Angel Undercover
by SailorChibi
Summary: In a world where everyone has a partner monster, Yuugi, Malik, and Ryou are abnormal. Creatureless, they walk alone. Even solving the Puzzle and receiving the Rod or Ring doesn't help. After all, they can't possibly be the hikaris of legend… that's no job for a girl. Fem!Yuugi, Fem!Ryou, Fem!Malik, Fem!Jou, YxY, RxB, MxM, SxJ
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any characters you recognize from the anime and/or manga.  
**A/N:** Here I am, back with another gender bend story. Will wonders never cease? I can only cross my fingers that this one will be as popular and enjoyed as much as my last one. It's going to be completely different, and honestly I'm not even sure where it's going but I hope you'll be willing to come along for the ride. Enjoy!

_I'm a bitch, I'm a lover  
I'm a child, I'm a mother  
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint  
I do not feel ashamed  
I'm your hell, I'm your dream  
I'm nothing in between  
You know you wouldn't want it any other way_

_I'm a bitch, I'm a tease  
I'm a goddess on my knees  
When you hurt, when you suffer  
I'm your angel undercover  
_Meredith Brooks - Bitch

* * *

Even though the early morning sunlight was filtering in broken strands through the bared trees, the day was chilly. Mutou Mana shivered and drew her shawl closer around her shoulders, wishing that she had thought to wear something warmer. She shifted on the cold wooden bench and watched as a handful of young children, clearly wanting to savor the last of the sunlight before the coming storm took over, ran past her, all of them laughing and shouting playfully. The group was a mixture of girls and boys, she noted, a fact which was notable only because it was becoming increasingly rare.

She couldn't help fidgeting again as a winter wind blew, ruffling her golden hair around her face. At the same time, she heard familiar laughter. Mana couldn't help smiling as she reached up and gathered a fistful of hair, pulling it aside so that she could see. "Are you going to just stand there and mock me? You're so mean, Serenity-chan. I'd expected more of you by now!"

Jonouchi Serenity laughed again. "That's your own fault, Mana-chan," she teased, but she waddled behind the bench and took a tie from her pocket. Quickly, she gathered the gold strands together and expertly fastened the tie to keep them in place. "There. I don't know why you just don't do it before you leave the house."

"Because you're so much better at it than I am," Mana replied, shaking her head experimentally. Her hair was difficult to tame, and most of the time flimsy hair ties did little to help. Serenity seemed to have a special gift, possibly because she'd dealt with her own long, curly brown hair for so long. She studied her friend thoughtfully as Serenity shuffled back around and eased her body down onto the bench with a faint huff.

"Do I look that bad?" Serenity asked wryly, catching the look.

"No. Actually, you look good."

"I find that hard to believe!" Exhaling loudly, Serenity leaned back and rested her hands lightly on her rounded tummy. "God, it's getting hard to sleep at night. Sometimes it's all I can do to find a halfway comfortable position. I swear this kid thinks that my bladder is a soccer ball."

Mana smiled, automatically mimicking her friend's position. Serenity sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes darting from Mana's still flat tummy to her face, and Mana said quietly, "I got confirmation this morning. I haven't been to the doctor yet and Mahado doesn't know, but the ritual that I performed last night to tell me the truth worked. I'm pregnant, Serenity-chan."

"Oh," Serenity breathed, biting her lip hard. "What... what does this mean?"

No one was watching them. Mana made certain of that before she showed Serenity the inside of her wrist. There, right over the spot where her pulse beat, was the eye of Ra. Serenity gasped at the sight and Mana cringed, hiding the mark beneath a chunky bracelet. "This is what originally made me suspect I was pregnant. You can't tell _anyone_, Serenity-chan. I mean it. I only trusted you because you said you had similar fears when it came to your baby."

"I do." Her face going blank, Serenity looked down at her bump. "I had my doctor's appointment yesterday. It's a boy."

Normally, that would have been news for celebration. But Mana knew better. "I'm sorry."

"I was expecting it." Her lips trembled as she fought to smile. "I know that Toshiyuki will be pleased, at least. I haven't told him yet."

"It doesn't have to be that way," Mana reminded her. "I could -"

"Mana-chan, that could _kill_ you."

"I don't care! I'm not going to let my child be taken by Kaiba Corp!" Mana hissed, digging her nails into her thighs. She wanted to yell, to scream at the injustice of it all, but to attract that sort of attention would mean death. "I know that this child is going to be a boy, and if that's so there's no other way to hide it. You know that the boys are examined carefully every single year for any sign of a mark. It's only going to get worse before it gets better now that the Pharaoh and some of the other owners of the Millennium Items have been found. But they don't even _look_ at the girls. They're so fucking sure that a hikari can't be female. Even just for_ that_, I would love to prove them wrong."

Serenity anxiously curled a strand of hair around her finger. "Technically, if it's a boy they are right," she ventured.

"Then I'll change it," Mana said coldly. "Even if it kills me I'd rather my baby grew up free, even if it means she will have to face all of the crap that we put up with on a daily basis. I will be _damned_ before I allow those bastards to take my child from me. Gods only know what they plan to do."

"You're going against nature," Serenity whispered. Her face had grown pale.

"I know. Believe me, I know. I've studied all of the consequences, thought about this from every angle ever since I had that dream. But I don't see another way. And - there's more."

"More?"

"I'm sure you're aware that gender spells are illegal. There's a reason for that beyond the obvious. They're really strong." Mana hesitated, not quite meeting Serenity's eyes. "It's not so bad if you're casting it on a fully grown human, but on a fetus... it won't take much. All of that excess power is going to have to go somewhere. It will have to affect more than just mine."

"Mana-chan! You have no right to make that decision for someone else!"

Mana stood up. "I know. I know! But what choice do I have?" Her hands were shaking. "I can't let them do this to my baby. I _can't_. I know what sort of life he'll lead. He'll be locked away without the chance to even meet the Pharaoh. The others will suffer the exact same fate. I could save them all, Serenity-chan. I could give the hikaris a chance." She paused for a split second, and then added, "And your baby too, if you wanted."

Serenity swallowed hard and didn't say anything for a minute. When she spoke, her voice trembled. "What if the others have been born already?"

"They haven't."

"And if the Test has been done?"

"It's been wrong before."

"But what if their parents have already discovered the mark and notified the authorities?"

"No parent would do that," Mana said, but her words lacked conviction and she sighed. "Look, I know my plan isn't the best but it's all I have. I _am_ going to do this. It's my duty to protect the hikari of the puzzle, and if I can do the same for the hikaris of the Rod and the Ring then I'm going to. I won't let any of them suffer, not if I can help it."

"And mine?" Serenity's lips barely moved.

"If you wish I can include your child in the spell, yes."

"It will make him..."

"Female. No one will ever know. Everyone will think the Test was wrong," Mana replied. "It does happen sometimes. It's not nearly as fool proof as they want us to believe it is." Her smile was bitter. "Nothing about Kaiba Corp ever is."

"Will it interfere with his - her fate?"

"No. She will still be a mate." Automatically Mana glanced at Serenity's lower half. She knew that the dragon mark had shown up on the inside of Serenity's left thigh before the woman had even been aware she was pregnant. Like Mana, it had been her first clue. "But like I said, they are so convinced that no girl can be of any worth that they don't bother to do more than a cursory examination. Even a symbol that strong could easily be hidden."

Serenity closed her eyes. In spite of all her reservations, it took her less than a minute to make her decision. "Do it, Mana-chan."

**AU**

_Roughly seventeen years and some months later..._

"Thank you for shopping at the Kame Game Shop. We hope that you will keep us in mind for all of your future gaming needs, and have a good day." Mutou Yuugi rattled off the little speech that had become as familiar to her as her own name as the group of children headed out of the shop. None of them were paying the least little bit of attention, of course, too preoccupied in discussing the new cards that they had just purchased. She slumped gratefully against the counter as the bell above the door rang from their departure, signifying that she had a few blissful moments of quiet before the next group came in.

Not that those minutes were going to be spent the way she wanted them to be. Yuugi surveyed the shop and sighed. It was a disaster area. It looked like a couple of partner monsters had gotten into a fight when really, it had just been several hours of steady customers who didn't really care about putting merchandise back where it belonged. And Yuugi had been too busy to do anything about it before now. Obviously that was all part of working in a shop, but that didn't mean it got any easier to watch. Sometimes she just wanted to tell people not to touch anything if they weren't interested in buying.

"Oh boy," a familiar voice said from right behind her. "I think we got here just in time. Yuugi has that look in her eyes again."

"I do not," Yuugi said, smiling in spite of herself as she turned around to greet two of her best friends. "Well, okay, maybe I do. But I don't mean to. It's just..." She scrubbed her hands over her face and sighed again. "It's been a pretty long day."

Bakura Ryou gave her a sympathetic smile. "I know. Look, why don't you go in back and take a break? Malik and I will clean up, and we'll help anyone who comes in."

"We will?" Malik Ishtar said, looking like she was ready to protest.

"_Yes_, we will."

"I couldn't ask you guys to do that."

"You didn't, I offered. Go," Ryou said firmly, pointing towards the curtain that cordoned off the back room from the rest of the shop. "Malik and I might not have been doing this for as long as you, but I'm pretty sure we have the basic idea down by now."

"Yeah, after eight years of free labor," Malik muttered in resignation. The gold bracelets she was wearing clinked gently as she walked over to the nearest stand and began reorganizing. Yuugi hid a grin as she left the shop in the hands of her capable friends. Honestly, she had no idea what she would do without Ryou, Malik and Jou. She'd be willing to swear that the three of them were gifts straight from the gods themselves, because it seemed like one or all of them always showed up just when Yuugi needed them the most.

She found her grandfather in the kitchen, standing over the stove. He was humming softly as he poked at a large batch of his famous cheese omelets. The delicious smell made Yuugi's stomach growl, and Sugoroku glanced over at her. "Ah, Yuugi, there you are. I'm guessing that Malik-chan and Ryou-chan found you."

"And Ryou forcibly volunteered Malik to help, yes," Yuugi replied.

He smiled. "They're good girls," he said quietly, and Yuugi studied him for a few seconds without speaking. She knew that it bothered him that they had to rely on the help of Yuugi's friends to make the shop work. They couldn't afford to pay for extra help, and life would be so much easier if one of them had a partner monster to depend on. But Sugoroku's partner was far too big to be able to live with them all the time, and Yuugi... well, Yuugi didn't have one.

Well, actually that wasn't completely true. She supposed she must have a partner. Everyone did. But her partner monster had not manifested at her birth, and every year that went by without its appearance made it less likely that it would show up. Normally Yuugi tried not to let it bother her, and she did her best to ignore the often cruel comments made by people who did notice. It had become a little bit easier after she met Ryou and Malik, because they didn't have a partner either. Jou had one, but she'd never met it before and she wouldn't until she found her mate.

"I thought," Yuugi said reluctantly, because it was the only thing that she could think of that would help cheer him up a little, "I would go upstairs and work on the puzzle for a while."

His expression brightened so quickly that she wondered if she'd been had. "That sounds like an excellent idea, Yuugi. I know you're close to solving it."

"Yeah," she mumbled, heading up the stairs at a weary gait. The Millennium Puzzle. Just having it in her possession was just this side of illegal. Kaiba Corp had been searching for the Items for years, and rumor had it that Kaiba Gozaburo would be willing to pay big bucks to get his hands on the Puzzle especially. But Sugoroku had refused to even entertain the idea of passing it over to the authorities. He was convinced that Yuugi was the Pharaoh's Hikari, one of the light-based souls from the legend that would help the darkness to free the world from corruption.

Yuugi thought that was a load of crap. True, she had a small mark on her wrist that, if looked at in the right light, could be the eye of Ra. She always had it covered by a thick black band that she'd had for as long as she could remember, and only her friends had ever seen it. She'd been cautioned from the time she was young that she shouldn't show it to anyone else. But she was doubtful that it would turn out to be anything other than an odd birth mark - certainly it was like no mate mark she'd ever heard of - and she had even more doubts about her ability to solve the Puzzle.

"I hate working on this stupid thing," she groused under her breath as she entered her room. "Jii-chan's had me at it for the past four years and it hasn't made a bit of difference. It's the same thing every time - I get so far and then I have to stop and take it apart because I can't get any further. At this rate, Kaiba Corp can _have_ it. Why not let it be their problem for a while?"

She threw herself down on her bed and stayed there for a minute, staring at the ceiling. Her complaints were unfounded, really. If anyone had actually tried to take the Puzzle, Yuugi would've fought tooth and nail to keep it. Frustrating though it might have been, working on the Puzzle was actually very relaxing. It focused her mind. When she was younger, before she'd met most of her friends, she used to come home after difficult days and hold the Puzzle in her arms. That was before Jii-chan agreed to let her try solving it, and all she could do was cry over the golden pieces and wish that things could be different.

Yuugi threw an arm across her eyes. Sometimes she still wished that things could be different. She wished that she _could_ be the hikari from the legend and that the Pharaoh would be everything she had always dreamed of, that together the two of them would be able to save the world. More importantly, she would finally have someone who understood her, someone to make her feel _whole_. It was a wish that she had often thought about while she worked on the Puzzle: a secret that was just between her and an inanimate object - which actually said quite a lot about the state of her life when she thought about it.

And really, who was she kidding? That sort of thing only ever happened in movies, and besides it was common knowledge that the hikaris were male. It was just wishful thinking on both their parts, and she knew better than to ever let on to her grandfather that she'd let herself get even a little bit caught up in his stories. Yuugi was teased enough at school as it was. She really didn't need anything else that would make her stand out. Not for the first time, she told herself she would keep working on the Puzzle until, for whatever reason, she couldn't.

She sat up and reached under her bed, searching for the gold box that housed the pieces and finding it when a sharp corner pricked her finger. Wincing, she pulled it out and took the top off. A fairly large chunk of completed Puzzle stared up at her and she picked it up carefully. This was the farthest she'd gotten in a long time, and now she could actually see the shape that the Puzzle would take when it was completed: an upside down pyramid. The last piece she'd put in before falling asleep the night before had a metal loop attached where a cord could be strung through.

"Like I could wear it even if I do solve it," Yuugi said out loud, tracing the top thoughtfully. Supposedly only the Pharaoh's hikari could solve the Millennium Puzzle. So if she solved it, did that mean she was the hikari? Or, more likely, that part of the legend had wrong. Or, even more likely, the whole thing really was a load of crock that too many people had taken a bit too seriously.

She bent her head and picked up another piece, automatically turning it in all directions to see if there was a place where it might fit. Her hands had been doing this for so long that her mind was free to wander, and as it often did she began to think about her friends. Malik and Ryou had agreed to go visit that new amusement park with her later on, and Jou had said that she might join them depending on whether she had the money for it. They'd drag Jou along regardless, of course, no matter how much Jou hated what she called charity. It was never quite the same when the four of them weren't together.

After the park, they planned to have a sleep over at Yuugi's. In the morning, hopefully they would all know whether or not they'd been accepted to Kaiba Corp's Central Academy. It wasn't Central Academia, which was the school that Yuugi had always dreamed of attending, but it was the next best thing. She looked down at the Puzzle and smiled wryly. Sugoroku had promised her, once, that if she solved the Puzzle he would find a way to get her, Ryou, Malik and Jou into Central Academia. More wishful thinking, apparently her grandfather was a master at it.

"But… it would be so nice to solve you and get my wish," she whispered, holding up the chunk of completed Puzzle. Impulsively, she closed her eyes and kissed the chilled gold, which failed to warm even under the tender touch of her lips. That would never happen, but a girl could dream.

* * *

A/N: Serenity and Shizuka will be two different people.

Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Wow, I am amazed by the reception to this story. I was all nervous to post it, and you guys are just - amazing! I really hope you continue to enjoy this story. Here we go!

* * *

The room was dark, but that would not have surprised anyone who knew Kaiba Seto. Tenno Yami ventured further into his cousin's room anyway, knowing that he did not need to worry about tripping over something even though he could hardly see. Seto always kept his room spotless, both because his father demanded it and because that was just the way Seto was. He was naturally organized even when he was trying to relax, and Yami knew that there wouldn't be anything on the floor that might trip him up. That's why he was not expecting to have his shin suddenly ram straight into something that was heavy.

"Fuck!" he blurted out, trying to stop his forward momentum. It was too late. He landed hard on one knee with a breathless grunt and a crash that sounded much too loud considering the time of night. For a moment, he remained perfectly still and just listened hard. No sounds came from the rest of the mansion and he gradually relaxed, only now allowing himself to wince at the pain running up his arms and legs.

"That was graceful." The light was flipped on suddenly, and Bakura folded his arms, smirking, as he leaned casually against the wall.

Yami glared at him. "Shut up, thief," he muttered, glancing behind him. He'd tripped over Seto's desk chair, he realized. It was on its back in the middle of the room, which was extremely unusual and cause for concern. He got up, refusing to flinch in front of Bakura even though his stiffened muscles protested the move, and bent down to grab the chair. "Where's Seto?"

"He got called into an unexpected meeting with Gozaburo," said Bakura, his smirk vanishing. There was nothing to be cheerful about when it came to that man.

"Great," Yami muttered, closing his eyes briefly in a bid for patience he did not have. Nothing tended to irritate Seto more than a meeting with his adopted father. His cousin would be in a bad mood for the next several hours, possibly longer depending on how the meeting went. It also meant that their own meeting would have to wait, as Gozaburo would become suspicious if Seto pushed too hard. He looked back at Bakura and sighed. "I guess our meeting will have to wait."

Bakura's mouth tightened into a thin line, but he said nothing. He wasn't tied here for the same reasons that Yami and Seto were. Yami couldn't stop his eyes from dropping to the thin band that Bakura wore around his right ankle. Revulsion rose in his throat, silencing him momentarily. He loathed the fact that Bakura was forced to wear that band. It was equipped with the best tracking technology in existence and reported a constant stream of information back to Kaiba Corp, and if Bakura misbehaved all it would take was a simple push of a button to cause excruciating pain or even death.

One day, Yami thought not for the first time, he would kill Gozaburo for daring to use such a cruel device on anyone. And it wasn't just because Bakura was his friend, either. There were a lot of things that Gozaburo did that he didn't agree with, but right now Yami wasn't in a position to _do_ anything about it. That was unspeakably frustrating for him. If he only had the Millennium Puzzle - if Bakura had the Ring - if they knew where the yami of the Rod was - if the three of them had their hikaris and Seto had his mate...

It took effort to swallow the bitterness that he wanted to voice. "Alright. We'll talk in the morning before we go to Central Academia," he said at last. He wanted to tell Bakura not to do anything stupid, but he also knew that it would be pointless. If any of them saw their chance they would act regardless of the danger, and Yami would not tell Bakura not to do something that he would do without a second's hesitation.

Bakura gave a sharp nod and turned, disappearing down the hallway. He blended so seamlessly with the shadows that Yami felt slightly envious. He sat down on Seto's bed and sighed, looking around the room. It was the sort of place that would normally belong to a spoiled child, filled with the latest technology and the most expensive furniture. Even the Egyptian cotton sheets on the bed were top quality. But Yami knew that Seto would trade it all for the chance to know that his little brother was safe. That was a luxury Seto had not experienced in years.

His eyes fell on Seto's nightstand, and the photograph that was lying face down. Yami didn't have to look at it to know what - or rather, _who_ the picture would show, but he did anyway. As expected, the photo was of three young boys in front of an orphanage. They looked painfully innocent and naive, considering what he now knew was waiting for them. A part of him strongly wished that he could go back to that day and warn those children about what was coming, but what good would that do? He would have been found out sooner or later, the symbol of Ra on his inner wrist was unmistakable, and he never would have left Seto and Mokuba behind.

"You're daydreaming, Yami."

The unexpected sound of his cousin's voice failed to make Yami jump, which was probably what Seto had been intending. He said, "No, I'm not. I was just thinking about how things might have been different."

Seto stepped into the room and shut the door. In the bright light, he looked tired and old. "You might say that, but I know you wouldn't have wanted things to change even if you had the ability to do it. Kaiba Corp brought you to Bakura, and you might not have met him otherwise."

That was true, and Yami knew it. He did not remember the previous life that he had apparently lived as Pharaoh, though Bakura did - but he could remember the day that Kaiba Corp guards had brought Bakura in. He'd been snarling and fighting to get away, and he'd sworn viciously at Yami when he first saw him and Seto. It had taken a lot of time and effort to create any semblance of friendship between them, and even now Yami thought that sometimes Bakura looked at him mistrustfully.

He sighed again. "Alright, you might have a point," he conceded reluctantly. If Kaiba Corp hadn't gathered them, who knew whether or not he would have ever found Bakura? He wasn't even certain they would be able to find the third yami and their hikaris if given the chance. "I just wish that I could change things. All this power and I can't _do_ anything with it."

"It's frustrating," Seto agreed quietly, sitting down in his desk chair. He sat with his back straight, chin propped on his hand. "But I get myself through those meetings by imagining the day when you will make things change."

Yami felt chilled, though he tried not to show it. "Seto -"

"I have a lot of work to do, Yami, especially now that Gozaburo has decided he wants me at Central Academia." Seto's lip curled in frustration and he flexed his hands. "Would you mind?"

There was no arguing with Seto when he got like this: work always came first, especially when Mokuba was being used as leverage. Yami nodded silently and stood up as Seto turned back to his computer. He lingered for a moment, wanting to say something comforting. But no words came to mind, and at last he turned and left. What could he say? No matter what the legend said or what the mark on his wrist meant, when it came right down to it he was just a man without a monster, without a hikari, and without the Millennium Puzzle. And as long as he lived under the roof of Kaiba Gozaburo, he would never be able to do anything about it.

**AU**

Morning dawned brightly and too early, at least as far as Malik was concerned. She crawled out of bed after Isis knocked on her door for the third time, knowing that her sister would only tolerate so much of what Isis termed laziness before she would lose her temper. She got dressed and wandered out into the living room/kitchen. Isis was standing by the sink, murmuring quietly into the phone. There was a bowl of what appeared to be oatmeal on the table, along with a glass of milk. Malik wrinkled her nose. She hated oatmeal, but it was cheap and filling and all they could afford.

"You're sure?" Isis said suddenly, and her voice was so sharp that Malik glanced up at her quizzically. "You think it could be - well yes, I know that Mutou-sama said it would be now and the Tawk agreed, but I wasn't sure - well, alright, you know best. Yes, I've got it hidden away. She's almost found it once or twice, it's like a moth to a flame." A tiny smile crossed Isis's mouth. "And the other one has been given to - okay. Okay. Good-bye."

"Who were you talking to?" Malik asked immediately, interest piqued by the mention of Yuugi's name. She watched her sister closely. There were many secrets that the Ishtar family did not share with the outside world, but very few that she and Isis kept from each other - and by extension, Malik's friends, as there was little that Malik didn't tell them.

Isis laughed. "What have I told you about eavesdropping?" she replied, the fond light in her eyes lessening the weight of the scolding.

"It's not eavesdropping if you're talking about it right in front of me, Nee-san."

She cocked her head to the side and smiled. "I suppose you could look at it that way, yes. Malik, you are aware that Yuugi has been working on the Millennium Puzzle, right?"

Malik went still. "Yes," she said slowly.

"Well, Sugoroku believes that she is close to finishing it. I thought that she might be. I had a vision from the Tawk that said everything would be coming together shortly." For just a moment, Isis's eyes went distant. Malik, watching her sister, felt completely separate from her. She didn't know where Isis went when her sister started to look like that. It was as though Isis was seeing something that no one else could see.

"So you do think that Yuugi is the Pharaoh's Hikari, then?" Malik prompted. She'd known for a while that Isis thought that, but it was one of those things that they never talked about. Just like how they did not discuss the Millennium Tawk, which Malik knew for a fact was currently secreted in a hidden safe in Isis's bedroom. Isis never went anywhere without the Tawk; even though she could not openly wear it around her neck, she always had it concealed somewhere on her person. It was incredibly dangerous, but it was a risk Isis felt was necessary and Malik had never begrudged her that.

"You know that she is. There is no thinking about it," Isis replied, blinking rapidly. She looked a little dazed, and she sat down quickly.

"But Yuugi is a girl."

"Gender and sexe have nothing to do with it, Malik. You better than anyone should know that the legend does not specify male or female." Isis's mouth tightened briefly, a silent apology flashing across her face when Malik winced. She remained quiet for a few seconds before adding, "It is only this damnable world that has decided that men are stronger than woman. That is a lie. Male or female, that has nothing to do with the power of someone's soul. I had hoped that you would understand that by now."

"I do," Malik admitted. "I guess - it sounds _hard_, that's all."

"It will be, make no mistake about that. Yuugi has a very difficult road ahead of her. And so do you."

"Me?"

"And Ryou," Isis said, nodding. "You must have realized this was coming, Malik."

Malik bit her lip and instinctively touched her lower belly. She had to be careful with the pants and skirts that she wore, just in case someone caught sight of the eye of Ra that was imprinted on her pubic bone just below and to the right of her belly button. "Nee-san…"

"I know you've never really asked me about the Millennium Items. Frankly, when you were younger I was glad of it. There were so many answers I never dared to give you. But now that Yuugi is going to solve the Puzzle, things will start happening very quickly. You will be meeting your yami soon, and for that you'll need -"

"Whoa, hold on!" Malik held up a hand, feeling breathless. She'd wondered, sometimes, but she'd never really dared to think... "I don't even have a partner monster."

"Yes you do," Isis replied calmly, obviously having anticipated the rebuttal. "You know that everyone does. But you also know that hikaris have less of a connection to the Shadow Realm than everyone else, while yamis have more of one. It is a delicate balancing act." She paused before adding, "Much like soul mates, you won't be able to summon your partner monster until you have met your yami. And even then you may have difficulty. Your magic works differently, that's all."

"Well it sucks," Malik muttered sulkily, shoving her bowl of oatmeal away. She felt even less inclined to eat it now than she had before. "What if I don't want this, Nee-san? I thought that when we started living on the surface, I wouldn't have to have put up with anyone trying to plot my life out for me anymore."

"No one is trying to plot your life out, Malik. But this is just one of those things that is inevitable." Isis reached out and, in an uncustomary show of affection, took her younger sister's hand. "No matter what choices you made, whether we'd stayed with the clan or moved across the world or whatever, you would still find the Millennium Rod and your yami. The two of you are two halves that make up one perfect whole. Even if there wasn't the legend to think about, I would still want that for you."

What could she say to that? Nothing, Malik realized with an unhappy frown. She eyed Isis suspiciously, realizing that she had just essentially been backed into a corner. "How long have you been preparing this speech?"

"Long enough for you to know when you're beaten," Isis said smugly. "Look, I know that this isn't what you would have planned for yourself. I'm sure that Yuugi, Ryou and Jou will feel the same way. But -"

"Jou?" Malik interrupted, her head rising. "What does she have to do with this?"

"Jou has a dragon mark."

"Just because she has a dragon mark doesn't mean she has to be dragged into this, unless..." Malik stood up. "You've been hiding things from me!" she cried, stung. Apparently she and her sister didn't share as much as she'd thought.

Isis sighed. "Honestly, Malik. I've told you before that I can't tell you everything that the Tawk shows me. My visions are often disorienting. It takes time and effort to determine what they're actually about. Some of the time, I can't even be sure that I've interpreted them correctly. What good would it do either of us to tell you about a handful of fragmented images that make no sense?" She pushed her chair back and rose. "Besides, if you knew what was going to happen you would be tempted to change it. It takes a lot of self control to avoid interfering in the future, you know."

Malik stared at her and didn't say anything for a minute. She wondered if Isis even realized that she had just implied that Malik lacked discipline. "What does Jou have to do with this?" she asked again.

"I can't be certain, but I know that Jou's mate is very close to the Pharaoh. There is a reason, after all, that Jou fits in with the three of you as well as she does."

And of course it couldn't be just because we're friends, Malik felt like saying. Common sense had her biting back the remark at the last second. She knew that Isis wouldn't have taken it well, and it probably wasn't the best idea to annoy her sister any more than she already was. Isis had something of a temper when pressed too far. She settled for crossing her arms and scowling. "I don't like this."

"You don't have to like it, but that doesn't change the fact that it's going to happen regardless. As soon as Yuugi solves the Millennium Puzzle, I'm going to give you the Rod. You won't have to wait much longer than an hour or so, I think. And then we're going to put our plan into place." Isis's smile held more than a hint of satisfaction. "Before the year is out, Kaiba Corp will fall."

She walked out of the room, leaving Malik behind staring down at the table and congealing bowl of oatmeal that had been left behind. It was alright, though, because Malik couldn't have eaten even if there had been a six course meal laid out in front of her. Isis had always tried to do what was best for the both of them. Malik had never doubted that. But she was also very aware that Isis was struggling in the current world, chafing under the strict rules of Kaiba Corp that were often unfair and biased towards women. This was exactly why they had left their clan behind in the first place.

Or was it? For the first time, Malik found herself questioning whether or not Isis really had her best interests at heart. From the sound of it, Isis and her friends had been planning this for quite some time. Regardless of whether Malik, Yuugi, Ryou and Jou wanted to be a part of it, this was going to be happening and they were going to be right in the middle of it. She had to admit that this whole rotten situation was leaving a bad taste in her mouth - and she wasn't at all confident that things were going to turn out as well as Isis was expecting them to.

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Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Holy - I remain in shock about the amount of attention that this story is receiving. And, yes, a bit nervous about keeping it to the high standards y'all are expecting. Enjoy!

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Central Academy was a relatively small school compared to its larger counterpart, the famed Central Academia. But it was still an honor to be invited to study there. Yuugi looked down at the mail she was holding and sighed, realizing that_ another_ day had gone by without an acceptance letter. More than anything she wanted to be able to study dueling, as well as duel monsters and the unique bond that formed at birth between human and partner monster, but it was looking more unlikely with every passing day. She put the mail back and set the lid down gently, wondering why she had ever thought that they would want to accept someone who didn't have a partner.

"Hey, no moping!" The scolding remark was accompanied by a hand in her hair that started messing it up. Yuugi squeaked and ducked away, hands flying up protectively as Jou leaned against the door and laughed at her. "Come on, Yuugi, you're the best duelist I've ever seen. There's no way that they're _not_ going to let you in. Who cares if you can't summon a monster? That's not how most duels are done, anyway."

"I know that," Yuugi said, smoothing down her hair. It felt frizzy and unmanageable now, and she scowled at her friend. "But do you really think that Kaiba Corp's admission office takes that into consideration for a girl? Even for Central Academy. I mean, it would be different if I was a boy who was good at dueling. But girls have a hard enough time getting in without being a - without being weird," she amended, because she knew that Jou hated it when she called herself a freak. Even though technically, she was. "At least you have a _reason _for not having a partner, Jou."

Jou rolled her eyes. "And how do you think I feel, knowing that I can't summon my partner until I meet my mate?" she replied sarcastically. "You're really good at dueling, Yuugi, and you shouldn't let the fact that you don't have a partner hold you back." She glanced around for anyone who might have been close enough to listen before adding, "And besides, you might have just as good a reason as me if your grandfather turns out to be right about the legend."

"Not you too!"

"Well I'm sorry, but it all seems to fit. I think it's ridiculous that you're discounting yourself from being able to solve the Puzzle just because you're a girl. We all had to study that legend in school, and you know as well as I do that there weren't any pronouns in the original version. That's just how idiots have interpreted it."

Yuugi stared at her, flabbergasted. "You can't be bothered to learn anything else, but _that _you choose to remember?"

"Of course!" Jou said with a smirk. "It could have a big impact on my future, you know. Being best friends with three hikaris is nothing to laugh at."

"Oh for god's sake," Yuugi muttered, glancing automatically at her wrist. It was true that Ryou and Malik had similar marks on their bodies. Marks that no one else had, as far as Yuugi could tell. Marks that, if certain people were to be believed, Kaiba Corp had been searching for. But - "It just seems like too much of a coincidence, Jou. What are the chances that the three hikaris would all be in one place and that we'd all know each other?"

"It's not, if you were deliberately brought here."

In spite of the heat of the day, a chill ran down Yuugi's spine. She shivered. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that maybe it's not a coincidence at all." Jou folded her arms. They'd had this argument several times before, but this time she was determined to see it through and make Yuugi listen. "Haven't you ever stopped to wonder why Malik and Ryou would have moved here, out of all the places in the world? I can understand Ryou's family, but Malik and Isis had no reason to come here. Isis hates Kaiba Corp, so why would she come to the one place where Kaiba Corp has the most influence? It doesn't make any sense. There had to be a reason, and I think this is why. If Malik is a hikari, she has to be with you and Ryou."

"Let's just say you're right. Why would they want us all in one place?"

"Protection, probably. It's a lot easier to look after three people when they're all together," said Jou. "Besides, haven't you ever heard it's best to hide something in plain sight?"

Yuugi swallowed hard. She had never wanted to think too seriously about this. It felt too much like creeping close to a dangerous animal that was asleep. "Jou, it can't be me."

"Why not?"

"Because it just can't!" She turned on her heel and walked back into the Kame Game Shop. There was no sign of Sugoroku, and she suspected that he was probably out back sorting through the merchandise that had been dropped off earlier. It was just as well. This wasn't an argument she would've wanted him to hear.

"Yuugi…" Jou had followed her into the shop, and now she hesitated, uncomfortably running her fingers across the decks of cards. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just think it's something you should think about. You keep saying that it can't be you, that's all you've ever said, but you've never once given any reasons. I just - you're running away from this, and that worries me because it could come up behind you and bite you in the ass."

At that moment, Yuugi experienced the peculiar desire to put her hands over her ears and hum to herself until Jou went away. She wasn't even sure where this reaction, this fear, came from, but it was strong and paralyzing. It took effort to turn around and look at her friend. "If it was me," she said in a low voice, "Jou, it could ruin _everything_. Kaiba Corp has been searching for the hikaris for years. That means they've been looking for me, and everyone who was aware - everyone who they even_ think _was aware - could be fined or worse for having hidden me once they find out. And when they find me, what do you think they'll do to me? I hardly doubt they've been looking just so that they could reunite me with my other half!"

"Yuugi, I…" Jou trailed off. She didn't seem to know what else to say.

"I mean, of course I've thought about it. How could I not have when Jii-chan pushes it in my face constantly? And some part of me thinks that it might be true, but it would cause so much trouble if it was. I don't want to spend the rest of my life trying to hide, Jou. And I definitely don't want to spend it as a prisoner of Kaiba Corp. You know how much they want the power of the Millennium Items," she finished in a terrified whisper.

It had been drilled into her at a young age, the need for discretion when it came to the Millennium Items. Most people didn't know much about them; Yuugi was an exception, thanks to her grandfather. He had studied the items closely when he was in school and after, and he knew a good deal about all of them. He'd kept tabs on Kaiba Corp over the years, and somehow - she didn't know how - he'd even managed to find out that Kaiba Corp had at least of the two items and their owners working for them.

And there were rumors, unfounded of course, that Kaiba Corp had also found two of the yamis. Yuugi had wondered if that was true or not. If it was, what did Kaiba Gozaburo plan to do with them? What was he hoping to gain by having all of the Millennium Items at his disposal? Supposedly the person who owned all seven items would have ultimate power, but certain Items would only work for certain people - and in the case of the Puzzle, the Ring, and the Rod, they were so powerful that they required the presence of _two_ people to work. She had a hard time believing that Kaiba Corp was going to get ten people to willingly give them all of the power in the world, which meant that - if the rumors were true - the company would likely have to resort to less legal means of getting their way.

Yuugi did not want to be a part of that. She folded her arms and looked up at Jou. She felt bad that she'd basically attacked her friend, but that didn't change how she felt. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to yell at you, Jou. But you can see what I mean, right? How much of a problem it would be? It wouldn't just be a fun adventure."

"I know. Maybe it sounds like I don't, but I do get that. I just -" Jou sighed and shoved her hands into her pockets. She stared out the front window of the shop for a long time, leaving Yuugi to wait impatiently while Jou collected her thoughts. Finally, Jou said slowly, "The legend says that the yamis and hikaris will free the world from corruption. I can only guess that means Kaiba Corp, since they're pretty much the biggest source of everything that's wrong with the world. I think we can all agree on that. If you guys were the hikaris, it means that you would be able to _do _something about it. You might even be able to prove to people that girls are just as good as boys after all."

"Oh," Yuugi said stupidly. Honestly, she hadn't thought about it from that point of view before. Jou was right, of course, there were a lot of things in the world that were unfairly biased towards men and boys. Girls and women weren't thought to be as magically competent as males. It had always bothered Jou, and Yuugi to a certain degree, but it was just one of those things. "That's why you want us to be the hikaris so much?"

"Well... yeah. Sorry, I know that sounds awful, me wanting you guys to be in danger just for the sake of some glory."

"It doesn't sound bad at all. I know how hard it's been for you," Yuugi said quietly. All girls had it hard, especially the ones who were interested in dueling, but Jou had it worse than most. She had no support from her father whatsoever. "Jou, if I had the opportunity to change things - you know that I would, right? I would do whatever it took to take Kaiba Corp down."

"I know." Jou gave her a smile. "And now that you mention it..."

"Oh god," Yuugi muttered, recognizing that look. She'd put her foot in it now. "Alright, what is it?"

Jou grinned and took something from her pocket. It was a tiny square of paper, folded so many times that it was small enough to fit into the palm of her hand. As she crossed the floor, she unfolded it until Yuugi could see that there was a name - Otogi Ryuji - and an address written underneath it in an untidy scrawl. "I was hanging around Central Academy the other day and this girl came up to me and gave me this name and address," said Jou, her voice low and excited. "I think she was a member of the Resistance. She said that they're having a meeting tonight and that they're looking for more help. She said I could come and bring my friends if I wanted to."

"The _Resistance_? Jou, are you _crazy_?" Yuugi gasped. Of course she'd heard of them before, the secret, underground group that was supposedly trying to take down Kaiba Corp. Specifically, Kaiba Gozaburo and the other men who made up the company's top shareholders. But she'd never actually met anyone who admitted to being a part of the group. Resistance members who were found out by Kaiba Corp were immediately taken away. The lesser members were usually charged by the court systems, but the higher up a man or woman was the more chance that they would simply never be seen again. She took the flyer from Jou and had to stop herself from tearing it up into small pieces.

"I've been waiting for my chance for a long time, Yuugi."

"I know, but this is really dangerous. What if you get caught?"

"I think you mean, what if _we_ get caught. Because I was hoping you guys would come with me."

"Go with you? Oh Jou, I don't know..." A customer entered the store before Jou could say anything else. Yuugi quickly folded the flyer up and stepped forward to help. Her mind was racing while she was speaking and acting as normal as possible. She knew what her grandfather would say if she asked him about this. He would tell her that she was old enough to make a decision on her own. He definitely wouldn't forbid her from going. So the question was did she want to take that risk? And what happened if it turned out she was a hikari and she got caught? It was bad enough living under the radar now, but joining the Resistance would mean deliberately putting herself into situations where Kaiba Corp might catch them.

It was insane to even be contemplating. Yuugi knew that she should say no, and more than that she should be trying to convince Jou that it was a crazy idea. But one look at Jou's determined face told her that Jou was planning to go regardless of whether Yuugi, Malik and Ryou joined her. Letting out a sigh of exasperation as the pleased customer left, Yuugi had to wonder how she'd let herself in for this mess. Just ten minutes ago she'd been scolding Jou for bringing up the idea that she might be a hikari, and now she was thinking about doing something that could potentially be life threatening How did she let these things happen?

"Well?" Jou said impatiently after another few minutes had gone by without Yuugi saying anything.

"It's a big decision, Jou."

"It doesn't hurt to go listen, does it? I just want to go see what it's about. Come on, please?"

Yuugi couldn't help laughing. "Puppy eyes really don't suit you," she said, shaking her head. "Okay, you wore me down. I'll go."

"Yes!" Jou beamed and took the flyer back, folding it back up. "I've already asked Ryou and Malik. They're going to meet us there at seven."

"So you'd basically already decided that I was going to go before you even asked? Just for that, you can watch over the shop for a while."

"Why, where are you going?"

"None of your business!" she shot back, but judging by the look on Jou's face as she walked out of the shop Yuugi thought her friend had guessed. She took the stairs as quickly as she could and went into her bedroom. The Millennium Puzzle was sitting on her nightstand, exactly where she'd left it the night before. She hadn't told anyone yet, but - much to her surprise - she'd gotten further than ever before. The Puzzle was about ¾ of the way completed, and now the only part missing was the tip. There were about half a dozen pieces left in the box, and she reached out and picked one up.

Maybe Jou was right. Maybe she couldn't ignore the possibility anymore. Yuugi set the Puzzle down in her lap and sighed when she realized that she knew exactly where the piece she was holding would go. Now that she was almost finished, it was like she'd finally got the hang of it. Four years of hard work and it had come down to this moment. She slipped in four more pieces before picking up the final piece, the pointed tip. It felt sharp when she ran her thumb over it musingly, and she was careful not to press too hard.

Did she want to do this? Did she want to solve the Puzzle? When she'd first started trying, she had been motivated by both Sugoroku's desire and the fact that the side of the box said that anyone who could solve the Puzzle would be granted a wish. It was only later, as she became more aware of Kaiba Corp and the increasing search for the Millennium Items, that she started to doubt whether or not she would be able to solve it - or whether she even wanted to solve it at all. And now that she paused and took the time to think about it, she realized that was right around the time when she had stopped progressing on the Puzzle. After that, she'd repeatedly get to a certain point and then have to take it apart.

"You wouldn't think something so small would be so hard to solve," she said to the Puzzle, rolling the last piece between her hands. As always, the gold failed to warm up from her touch. It was one of those strange things about the Puzzle that she had just come to accept.

But now here she was, close to the end, and all it would take to solve was one piece. Less than thirty seconds, and she'd be the first person to solve the Millennium Puzzle since it had broken apart god knows how many years ago. That was kind of thrilling. Less so if she allowed herself to think about all the possible consequences, like the legend being true. Of course, if the legend really was true that meant she and the Pharaoh would succeed at their task. So there was no harm in solving the Puzzle.

Right?

Before Yuugi could let herself come up with a whole host of reasons as to why this could potentially be a very bad idea, she pushed the last piece into place.

The Millennium Puzzle was complete.

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Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy.

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Ryou wasn't really sure how she had let Jou talk her into going to a meeting of the Resistance, especially right before they might be starting at Central Academy and would therefore be under even more scrutiny than before. But here she was, an hour before she was due to meet her friends, getting dressed and brushing her hair while listening to the sounds of her father moving around downstairs and answering the phone when it rang. It was so unusual to have him home that she kept thinking someone had broken in.

He'd shown up unexpectedly a week ago and told her that he'd taken vacation time as a "surprise". He hadn't explained why even when she pressed him for more details the first couple of times, and he'd gotten annoyed with her questions so quickly that she'd let the matter drop. Bakura Osamu could have something of a temper when pushed too hard, and the last thing Ryou wanted to do was provoke an argument between them when he probably wouldn't be home for that long. He always got bored of what he called 'civilian life' after a couple of days, but she suspected that it had a lot more to do with being in the house around his late wife's things.

After approximately seven years, Ryou was used to seeing the remnants of her mother's and sister's life around. It had grown to be something of a comfort to see the happy pictures on the walls. But Osamu had spent so little time in the house that these things seemed to make him feel worse. It was hard to pity him, though, because he was the one spent the majority of his time in Egypt. And while it was nice having him home, it was also… strange. She kept wanting to ask _why_.

"Ryou-chan," Osamu called up the stairs, and she jumped. "Can you come down here for a minute, please? I need to talk to you."

"Okay," Ryou shouted back, wondering who had been on the phone. People rarely called for Osamu anymore, and he hadn't mentioned that it was for her, so she suspected that it had probably been his boss. As she went downstairs, she wondered if it meant that he would be leaving as quickly as he had arrived.

Osamu was waiting for her in the living room. He'd made tea and set the two cups out on a little tray with a couple pieces of the cake she'd made yesterday. Ryou raised a curious eyebrow and sat down on the couch, accepting the tea without commenting on the fact that she hadn't taken it with sugar since she was twelve. It was hot and good, if a bit sweet. Osamu sat down in the chair, paused, and then stood up and moved to sit beside her instead. He looked nervous, and he didn't take any of the tea or cake.

"How is it?" he asked.

"It's fine." Ryou set the cup down gently on the coffee table. "Is there something wrong?" And then, deciding that she'd make it a bit easier on him, she added, "If you have to go back to Egypt early, you know I won't mind. I know how important your job is."

He smiled. "No, that's not it. Though I do think that you should know I appreciate how adult you've always been about this, Ryou-chan. I probably haven't been as good of a parent to you as you deserve."

Ryou said nothing.

"Anyway, the reason I called you down here is because I wanted to give you something. Your mother and I… that is to say, you know that we decided before you were born that we would not tell anyone about your - your mark. She thought that you would be taken away if we did. We've always told you to keep it hidden."

"And I have," Ryou said. The only ones who had ever seen her mark were Yuugi, Malik, and Jou - and her parents and her sister, of course. Her mark, the familiar eye of Ra, was small, about the size of a large coin, and situated on her chest just above her left breast. Easy to hide as long as she wore the right shirts, and she'd never been the sort of girl to wear anything that was particularly low cut anyway.

"I know you have. And I'm relieved that you did. I can't say I know what would have happened if you hadn't." He fidgeted, shifting his weight from side to side before he cleared his throat. "We've never really discussed what the mark means."

"No," she said slowly. They hadn't. She'd asked, when she was younger, and her mother had always told her that the mark just meant she was special. Ryou had always assumed that meant it was a mate mark. It was only later, after she'd gotten old enough to go to school, that she had learned about the legend and what it might _really _mean. But then had come the car accident, and during the rare times when Osamu was around she didn't feel like she could ask. She brushed her fingers across her chest and looked up at her father. He was holding a package in his hands now, and he extended it to her.

The package was in the shape of a square, large enough that she had to hold it on her lap, and covered in a non-descript brown paper that offered her no clues. She bit back the urge to ask what it was for and tore the paper away instead, revealing a white cardboard box. Ryou lifted the smooth top and blinked down at what was inside. Gold, her mind registered, and loads of it: a thick ring with five spikes hanging down, strung on a thick brown cord, with the same symbol that she looked at in the mirror every time she got undressed.

"Oh my_ god_!" Ryou burst out, stunned. "This is - is this what I think it is?"

"It's the Millennium Ring," said Osamu. He was watching her closely. "It's a present for you. Well, when I say present… it actually _belongs_ to you, and I'm just returning it."

Ryou couldn't speak. It felt like all of the air in the room had been sucked away. She stared down at the Millennium Ring. It looked so innocent, like a harmless piece of jewelry instead of something that Kaiba Gozaburo would've cut off his right arm to possess. "What," she said, "the _hell _are you talking about?"

"Don't get upset, Ryou-chan. It's like this. I found the Millennium Ring several years ago on one of my first trips to Egypt. I was bored one day, so I went out to visit this little market not too far from where we were stationed. There was a vendor, and he insisted that I buy this for you." Osamu frowned. "Well, actually he thought I had a son for some reason, but when I told him I had a daughter he continued to insist. At first I didn't think you'd care for it, but the longer I stayed there the more convinced I became that you had to have it. He sold it to me for an excellent price, and I was going to bring it home to you but…"

"But?" Ryou echoed, surprised by the way he had trailed off. It was so unlike him.

"On my way home, a woman met me at the airport. At first I thought she was from my company, and that she was there to brief me on my next job. It didn't take me long to realize that wasn't the case at all. She… suggested to me that it would be better to put off giving you the Millennium Ring until… well, until she let me know that it was alright."

"And you just _believed_ her? A random woman in an airport?"

"I wouldn't have, but she said she had a Millennium Item too. She showed it to me."

Ryou thought she knew what was coming. She hoped she was wrong, but as far as she knew the only woman around who had a Millennium Item and would be gusty enough to approach a stranger would be… "Was her name Isis Ishtar, by any chance?"

Osamu smiled at that. "So you do know her after all," he said triumphantly. "I've thought for a while now that she must be related to that little friend of yours, what's her name…"

"Malik."

"Yes, that's her. Only you never mentioned Isis Ishtar, so I wasn't sure if I was right or not." He picked up his tea and took a huge gulp, seemingly more at ease now that the initial ice had been broken. "Your mother and I thought you might have a connection to the Millennium Items what with your mark, and now here was this woman who _owns_ a Millennium Item asking me to just delay giving it to you, and - well, maybe it was foolish of me but you were awfully young at the time. After we discussed it, it seemed to make sense to wait until you were more responsible and could decide if you wanted it or not."

Except maybe the decision wasn't really hers after all, Ryou thought. Not if Isis had been involved. She studied the Ring again, making no move to touch it. "What exactly did she say to you?"

"She confirmed that you were one of the hikaris from the legend, just like we thought, and that you might be in danger if anyone else found out about it. She said it was fate that the Ring had made its way to my hands to be passed on to you, and that it's always belonged to you, and that I should make sure that it didn't end up in the hands of anyone else. I've kept it with me all this time. I never left it here. I was too afraid that someone might find out and come after you."

"So instead you carried a dangerous, valuable item back and forth across the world?" Ryou said, feeling a little like she was hitting her head against a brick wall. If Osamu had been caught, the Millennium Ring would've been taken from him immediately and he would've been in a world of trouble for not reporting it sooner.

He shrugged. "It was too dangerous to leave it here unprotected. Of course, I'm still not sure that I should be giving it to you. But Isis called me and said that it was time."

"Why now?" Ryou asked sharply. "What's so special about today?"

"I don't know, Ryou-chan," he sighed. "Can't you just take the Ring and be pleased that I brought you home a gift?"

It was only due to the fact that Ryou didn't want to risk causing her father's temper to flare that she did not say what was going through her mind at that moment. What she really wanted to do was explain to him in a no uncertain terms that he'd just handed her a huge headache that could conceivably end up with her in jail or worse, and that he'd done it after hiding this information from her for years. The lack of warning was not appreciated, and she now had a lot of things to say to one Isis Ishtar. But she didn't. It took a lot of effort, but she swallowed her anger and forced a smile instead.

"Thank you," she ground out, setting the box down on the coffee table a touch harder than was probably necessary. "I'm going to be late meeting my friends, so I'll go now."

"You're not taking the Ring with you?" Osamu was frowning again. "Ryou-chan, I thought your mother and I had taught you better manners than that. The least that you could do is try it on and let me see how it looks. You're being very ungrateful right now, you know, and I don't appreciate it."

She looked at him for a long minute before she glanced down at the Ring. She still had yet to touch it. Part of her wanted to leave it there, but there was another part of her that hated the thought of leaving it behind. The worst thing was, Ryou had the feeling that she knew which part was going to win out as soon as she touched the Millennium Ring for the first time. But she also knew that there was no way her father was going to let her leave without having modeled it for him. He could be just as stubborn as she was sometimes.

Slowly, she reached out and touched the dark brown cord that the Ring had been strung on. It was thick, made of some braided material that felt strong, and Ryou picked it up, watching the way the Ring swayed back and forth. Her senses were screaming at her to put it back down and walk away, but Osamu was looking at her expectantly. So instead, defying a good portion of the instincts that had gotten her to where she was today, she slipped the cord over her head and let the Ring fall against her body.

Oh. Ryou sucked in a sharp breath. It was a little like the time when she was younger, and she and Amane had been playing around in their father's office. Amane had knocked a lamp over and Ryou had gotten a minor electrical shock. They'd both got into a lot of trouble after a visit to the hospital. She remembered that sensation, like a million little ants were crawling rapidly all over her skin, not unpleasant but standing out simply because it was impossible to ignore. It was the same feeling now, only stronger. She shivered, holding her breath until it faded away and only the mark on her chest, hidden beneath her clothing, continued to throb.

"There now. That looks very nice," said Osamu, wearing a look of satisfaction. He paused and then added, "You know, you look more like your mother every day."

"I do?" Ryou said, startled by the admission. Of course, she'd already known that: there were pictures of Bakura Emiko in the house, and anyone could tell that Ryou shared her mother's pale coloring and hair and brown eyes. Amane had taken after their father, with darker hair and eyes. She'd always suspected that part of the reason Osamu spent so much time working was because he didn't like seeing Emiko in Ryou, though he had never admitted as much.

"Yes." He stared at her for a moment longer before shaking his head and turning around. "You can go now. That was really the only thing I wanted to talk to you about. Make sure that you take the Ring with you, and that you don't let it out of your sight. I'm trusting you with this, Ryou-chan. Don't disappoint me."

Those words rang in Ryou's ears for a long time after her father had left the room. Her throat gradually grew tight and she could feel a familiar burning in her eyes. She dug her nails into her legs, refusing to give into the urge to cry. Osamu had no right to talk about disappointment, not after all of the things he'd done to her, but in spite of it all Ryou still found that she wanted to make him proud.

"God damn it," she said under her breath, standing up. She left the tea and cake on the table - there was no way she was going to clean up after him - and went into the hallway, where she'd left her jacket and shoes out the night before. She glanced at the mirror hanging beside the door as she pulled her coat on, torn with indecision Did she leave the Ring behind or take it with her? Bringing it was dangerous, but it was just as she'd feared: now that she was wearing it, just the idea of removing it actually hurt.

Ryou closed her eyes, resigned, and zipped her jacket up. It was just baggy enough that no one would be able to make out the shape of the Millennium Ring underneath - and if they did, they'd been staring too hard and deserved a slap. She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder as she hurried out the door, deliberately not saying good-bye to her father as she went. It didn't seem to matter. She could feel his eyes watching as she ran down the walkway and over to Malik.

"What's wrong?" Malik asked as soon as she was close enough. "You look upset."

"It's been a long day," Ryou said, realizing that she likely had an even longer night ahead of her. At least one thing was good: the talk she'd had with Osamu had completely erased all of her concern about what was going to happen at the meeting.

Malik studied her for a moment. "Did you have a fight with your father?"

"How did you know?"

"There's not very many things that can throw you off."

"He brought me a gift home." Ryou pulled the zipper down on her jacket just far enough for Malik to see what she was talking about after checking to make sure that there was no one around. The look on Malik's face was priceless. "Apparently, he's had it for a while. But he didn't give it to me until now because your sister told him not to. She called him up about an hour ago and said it was time."

"Oh my god." Malik covered her face with her hands. "Ryou, I am _so sorry_."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. I knew she was going to interfere, but I had no idea it would be this soon. You see, she did it to me too." Malik dropped her hands and sighed. She glanced around too before turning her other hip towards Ryou. Malik rarely carried a purse, claiming that they were too small; instead, she carried a messenger bag. And she pulled the top up just enough to reveal something unusual: the Millennium Rod.

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Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Please remember that I write fanfics because I enjoy doing so. I don't_ have_ to do it, I'm certainly not being paid, and I do not appreciate getting anon reviews complaining about a lack of updates during the rare week that I can't. I have a life outside of the computer that comes first, and a lot of you need to remember that bitching at someone is not the way to get what you want.

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It was still dark out when Kaiba Mokuba awoke, but that wasn't so unusual. He stayed where he was for a few minutes, gazing in the direction of the ceiling, just waiting. Gradually, as the sun began to rise, light slipped in through the cracks in his curtains and made unusual patterns across the white paint. He spent several minutes trying to decide whether one bit of light looked more like a Blue Eyes White Dragon or a Flame Swordsman before realizing that it didn't really look like either one. It was just a spot of light, and the days when he had been able to play with his brother and cousin, identifying the shapes of clouds, were long gone.

He closed his eyes just as the door swung open. Mokuba did not need to look to know that the woman standing in the doorway would be wearing a clean and freshly pressed uniform. It would be pink, a pale shade that was bordering on white, with a full skirt and an apron in the shape of a heart. Her lavender hair would be bound up with a bright yellow ribbon, and she would be wearing a smile that was, while cautious, mostly friendly. Because Nosaka Miho was just that kind of girl, and after three years of service she could not bring herself to be cold towards him.

"Good morning Kaiba-sama, what would you like for breakfast this morning?" she asked cheerfully.

"Just some toast is fine," said Mokuba, giving in to the inevitable. He opened his eyes and sat up. The covers fell down around his waist, revealing his bare chest. Miho did not look surprised, nor did she seem to be embarrassed. She just kept smiling. "I think I'll eat in my room today."

Miho winced at that. "I'm sorry. Crawford-sama has expressly requested that you join him today. I can try to make your excuses, but..."

"No, that's okay." Mokuba sighed, knowing that he would not be able to forgive himself if Miho got into trouble just because he wanted to hide away from the world. That was not how Mokuba had been taught to act, and he couldn't imagine that his big brother would be pleased if he knew that Mokuba was giving in so easily. He threw the sheets back and swung his legs off of the bed. "Just give me a few minutes, Miho-san. You can tell Pegasus that I'll be down once I've had a shower."

"Yes sir." She curtseyed, sweeping her skirts out, and then gently closed the door.

Mokuba listened to the sound of her footsteps moving slowly down the hallway. If he decided not to get up, if he chose to lay back down and pull the sheets back up over his head, she would be back. He would have exactly fifteen minutes before she returned. And if he still decided not to get up, then Croquet would come in and force the issue. That hadn't happened since Mokuba's first few weeks on Illusion Island, back when he was foolish enough to think that acting like a child might get him what he wanted. Croquet had only needed to visit him twice before Mokuba got the message.

He put his feet down on the floor and stood up, stripping off the soft cotton pants he'd been sleeping in. If it weren't for the fact that Miho would be the one who had to clean them up, he would've tossed them on the floor. Instead he folded the pants and left them on the end of the bed. He got dressed in a pair of black dress pants and a crisp blue shirt, forsaking a tie for the time being. He hated wearing them, and Pegasus didn't usually demand that fancy a dress unless they had company.

The very last thing he did before leaving the room was find the journal that he kept in the bottom drawer of his nightstand. There was no doubt in his mind that Croquet regularly read it - there were no secrets here - but that did not really bother him. He suspected that Croquet probably didn't understand the meaning of the thick black marks, and even if he did it wouldn't matter. They were a personal record, a way for him to keep track of how many days it had been since he had last seen his big brother, and no one else's business.

Carefully, he selected a pen and made another mark. He had never stopped to count them before, but he had worked out that it had been roughly two thousand and nine hundred days since he'd last spent any real time with Seto. It hadn't taken Kaiba Gozaburo long to figure out that Mokuba and Yami were Seto's weak points, and that taking one of them away would be an extremely effective method of controlling Seto. Yami was supposed to be the reincarnation of the Pharaoh and Gozaburo needed him, which meant that Mokuba was the fortunate one who was packed off to Illusion Island to live under the watchful eye of Pegasus J. Crawford.

Or at least, Mokuba imagined that was how it was _supposed_ to work. In reality, Pegasus was a crazy old bat who didn't even seem to remember who Mokuba was most of the time. As a result Mokuba spent most of his time working with tutors, and when he wasn't being supervised by his professors there always someone hovering over him. Any hope that he might win them over with trust was long gone. The only way he was ever going to get out of here was if Seto or Yami came to rescue him, and with every passing day - much as Mokuba hated to admit it - his hope of that happening died a little more.

"Nii-sama," he muttered, closing the book and pressing it briefly against his forehead. He couldn't give up on Seto. He just couldn't. The thought that someday he and his big brother might be together had been the driving force that made him get up every morning. No matter what happened, he had to remember that Seto had promised not to give up on him. Seto would come. He would.

And then everyone would pay.

The door swung open.

Mokuba jumped, startled, and started to shove the book back into its hiding place. But he paused when he realized who was standing there. "You scared me," he said, the words not quite an accusation: more of a relief than anything. He'd thought it was Croquet.

"Sorry, kiddo. But you've got to hurry up. You're going to get into trouble if you don't."

"I'm coming." Mokuba finished putting the book back and smoothed his pajamas back into place over it. He wondered what Seto would think of his life here, of the trust he'd put into two of the least likely people_ ever_. Would his brother think he was crazy? Or would Seto commend him for searching out companions, if not friends, who had kept him sane during the past several years? It was impossible to say, just one more question on a long list that might never be answered.

"Mokuba."

"Right." He jumped up and grabbed his shoes, pausing only to smile at Kaiba Noah before he closed the door behind him. "I'm ready."

**AU**

"Explain to me again why you want to go to this meeting in particular?" Bakura drawled, shoving his hands deeply into the pockets of his jeans. He watched idly as Yami paced the length of the room and Seto typed away at his computer. To all appearances, neither of them had heard him speak. But he knew that they were listening - or at least, that Yami was. The Pharaoh had a _thing_ about always paying attention to his surroundings, and if he didn't annoy Bakura so much Bakura would've been proud.

"You know why," Yami replied with a tired sigh. "Seto, come on. We've got to get going."

"Alright, I'm ready." Seto stood up and closed his laptop, then picked the computer up and slipped it into his briefcase. He carried it everywhere with him, not wanting to risk allowing anyone else the opportunity to investigate some of the more private (and dangerous) files contained on his personal hard drive. A sensible move, considering that some of those files could've gotten them all killed.

Yami nodded and left the room first, leaving Bakura and Seto to fall in behind him. It was not uncommon for Yami to take the lead, mostly because everyone who worked in the Kaiba mansion were too aware of the legend to dare approach him. They were all intimidated, yes, but they weren't scared of Yami the way they were of Bakura. Gossip travelled fast, and every single worker knew that Bakura had nothing holding him back except for the threat of a little pain. And really, that wasn't much of a threat of all. It never failed to make him smirk when people scuttled out of his way.

No one tried to stop them, and they climbed into Seto's car and drove out through the gates unquestioned. Seto was at the wheel, and as he turned onto the street he said, "Where are we headed tonight?"

"The park," said Yami, looking out the window. Of course, due to the GPS tracking they couldn't take the car to their real destination. That would be like handing Gozaburo a personal invitation. No doubt the man was already aware of where they were headed regardless, but it didn't hurt to maintain the illusion.

Seto drove them silently to the park. He parked the car and the three of them got out. It was dark, quiet, because Seto had chosen a spot towards the back of the lot where the trees provided them ample shade for what was about to happen next. Bakura leaned casually against the car as Seto knelt before him and put his hands over Bakura's extended ankle. His lips moved silently, blue eyes flashing white, and a swirl of blue lightening leapt from his palms. The raw scent of magic filled the air and Bakura clenched his hands into fists at the now familiar jolt of pain that flashed up his calf and thigh.

Without his mate or a partner, Seto's magic was not nearly as strong as it could have been. But it was just enough to mask the GPS that had been built into the device Bakura wore. The GPS would report that Bakura was wherever he had been when Seto invoked the spell, and it would remain that way until Seto chose to take it off. The downside was that the spell drained heavily on Seto's resources, and whoever was monitoring the system would likely become suspicious if they realized that three boys had spent too long in one place.

"Alright, priest?" Bakura asked roughly as Seto rose to his feet and visibly swayed.

"I'm fine." Seto closed his eyes for just a second and put a hand on the car, reorienting himself, before he looked back at Bakura. He switched his hand to Bakura's shoulder and then reached out and grasped Yami's arm. A cold feeling enveloped them, like being doused with icy water, and Seto's legs buckled. Yami steadied his cousin until he was certain Seto could stand without support.

"Let's go. Quickly," he said, jerking his chin towards the street.

Bakura needed no more prompting. He went first, using the skills taught to him long ago to keep from being seen by anyone who wouldn't be fooled by the second spell Seto had just cast. It would hide three of them from surveillance, but it would only last for about three minutes before Seto wouldn't be able to keep it up any longer. He'd improved a lot, considering that when he first began using this spell he hadn't been able to keep it up for more than thirty seconds. With his mate, the priest would definitely be powerful - something that Gozaburo was probably counting on.

He took them out onto the far street, down two alleys, and out onto another, busier street. When Seto took the spell off, it was like emerging from the dark out into warm sunlight. He repressed a shiver and instead hunched his shoulders, looking suspiciously at the people who were walking by. Time and experience had taught him that most people could not be trusted, and he didn't even like putting as much trust into Yami and Seto as he had. Of course, with the two of them he had no choice.

"The house isn't far away," Yami murmured, once again taking the lead. "Come on, we don't want to be late."

"No, wouldn't want that," Bakura said mockingly under his breath, even though he could see the reasoning behind Yami's statement. Coming in late guaranteed that people would pay even more attention to them.

The meetings were always in different places, and the three of them didn't attend all of them: couldn't, because there were far more meetings than opportunities to get away from Kaiba Corp. Bakura usually didn't go more than once a month, so he was wondering why Yami was so insistent that he attend this particular meeting. There had to be more than the Pharaoh was letting on, but he wasn't sure what that might be. He narrowed his eyes at the back of Yami's head and didn't pay attention to the girls approaching him until one of them ran right into him.

"Oh god - sorry, I'm so sorry," the girl started babbling before she stopped suddenly. A peculiar expression flashed across her face as she touched her chest, pressing her hand against her jacket in a move that mirrored Bakura's. Because he had instinctively grabbed his chest, too, when the mark hidden beneath his shirt had begun to burn like someone had touched him with a fire poker.

"Bakura!" Yami said, grabbing his arm and turning him around. The girl spun away, her white hair billowing around her slender shoulders, and was lost amongst the crowd of people before Bakura could stop her. He swore, looking around in vain, and then yanked his arm free of Yami's grip.

"What's wrong?" Seto said, pushing his way back.

Bakura looked at the two of them. "Nothing," he said at last. It wasn't that he didn't want to explain, but more that he wasn't sure how. How could he explain that the eye of Ra was burning like someone had just pressed it onto his flesh? Or that the skin of his arm where he'd touched that girl was tingling? Or that he suddenly felt fresh with energy, like he'd had a full twelve hours of sleep and four cups of coffee with sugar on top of that? He couldn't, and he didn't want to.

Yami didn't look entirely convinced, but it was obvious that he didn't want to push the issue when they were out in public. "Alright. Just stay close, okay?"

"I know my way around the city, Pharaoh," Bakura hissed. "I'm pretty sure I could handle it if I got separated from you. I'm not a child."

"Sometimes I wonder whether or not that's true," Yami muttered, rolling his eyes as he turned away. He started walking again and Seto followed automatically, always the priest never more than a foot away from his pharaoh. Bakura lingered for a moment more, just long enough to make his point - long enough to make one more sweep of the crowds for that girl. But there was no sign of her, and finally he hurried to catch up.

**AU**

Unbeknownst to Yami, Bakura and Seto, they were being watched. Mariku folded his arms casually and watched with no small amount of amusement as the thief king, priest and pharaoh walked away. They were trying so hard to blend in that it was actually having the opposite effect. He almost wished that he could reveal himself, if only to point out just how many girls had stopped to stare at the three handsome boys. They were leaving a trail of broken hearts in their wake and they didn't even know it.

"How pedestrian," he uttered, the words spoken so soft that they were lost to the bustle of downtown Domino long before anyone else could have heard them. He spent a moment looking thoughtfully after those two girls. He'd never seen them before, but obviously the white-haired one had had quite the effect on Bakura. And there was something about the blonde that felt familiar in a way he could not place. The thought of following them was tempting.

His phone rang, jolting him out of his thoughts. There was no need to check and see who was calling; he already knew, just like he knew that they wouldn't stop calling until he picked up. Reluctantly, he put the phone to his ear. "What do you want? I'm busy."

"You're not busy, you're stalling."

"_Not_ stalling," he mumbled childishly. "Look, this is stupid. You're always on about me not attracting attention and risking capture. Well, I already know where they're going. I don't see why I have to follow them through the city. Why can't I just meet them there?"

"Mariku."

"Okay, okay." He hung up and sighed as his phone immediately began to ring again. Apparently his scolding had not been complete. Well, that was too bad. After all, he had just been told that he had more important things to do - and he wouldn't want to disobey. Mariku smirked as he dropped his phone and ground it under his heel, shattering the screen and rendering it useless. Only then did he take off, blending seamlessly amongst the rest of the bustling crowds.

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Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy.

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Though there was only one extra thing in Yuugi's purse, that didn't stop it from feeling a hundred times heavier. She played anxiously with the strap, well aware of Jou's curious gaze as they waited in front of _Burger World_ for Ryou and Malik to join them. She hadn't told anyone that she had solved the Millennium Puzzle, not even her grandfather. Part of her felt guilty for keeping something so momentous a secret, but a bigger part of her was worried about what would happen when he found out. She really didn't want him blowing things out of proportion, and she knew that was exactly what he would do.

Finally, Jou lost patience. She'd been watching her friend closely for the past two hours. It was unlike Yuugi to be secretive; Yuugi was the kind of person who wore her heart on her sleeve. Everyone could tell what she was thinking as soon as it crossed her mind. And in this case, it was completely obvious that Yuugi was trying to hide something. "Alright, Yuugi, either tell me what's in your purse that has you so up in arms or hand it over so that I can see. You're starting to drive me crazy."

"Sorry," Yuugi said sheepishly, though she made no move to hand over her purse. "I don't mean to, Jou. I'm just a little nervous, that's all."

"Nervous?" Jou cocked an eyebrow, but before Yuugi had the chance to respond someone else spoke up and answered Jou's question.

"That's because she solved the Millennium Puzzle. And she doesn't dare leave it at home just in case Jii-chan or someone else finds it, and because even though it's only been solved for less than a day she already feels an attachment to the stupid thing. The thought of it being stolen or taken away is about as bad as the idea of losing a limb."

"Malik!" Yuugi spun around and glared at her friend, clutching the strap of her purse even more tightly. She cast nervous looks up and down the street before adding in a quiet hiss, "Don't talk so loud. Someone might hear you."

"Wait, she's right?" Jou exclaimed. "You _solved _it?"

"Of course she did. It's only been in the stars for the past god knows how many years," Malik said sourly, her face set into a scowl. "I think that the only people who _didn't_ know Yuugi was going to solve the Puzzle today was the four of us."

"Okay, time out." Jou held her hands up in a T. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Let's just say you're not the only one who got a surprise today," Ryou said with a sigh. She stepped closer to her friends and dropped her voice. "My father had a surprise for me this morning. He called it a present, but to me it's anything but." Briefly, she filled Jou and Yuugi in on what her father had said about Isis. "And then he gave me the Millennium Ring and told me not to take it off."

"I'll give you one better," said Malik. "_Isis_ cornered me this morning and said that it was time I accepted that I was one of the hikaris from the legend. She had the Millennium Rod hidden away and she wouldn't let me leave until I agreed to take it with me." She patted her messenger bag in an absent way, like she wasn't even really aware that she was even doing it. "She said all this stuff about how I was going to meet my yami, and that once I did a plan would be put into place to make sure that Kaiba Corp is destroyed."

"Holy shit," Jou muttered, looking overwhelmed. "All this because Yuugi solved the Millennium Puzzle this morning? What if she hadn't solved it?"

"Isis told me that the Tawk showed her a vision of Yuugi completing the Puzzle today," Malik replied grimly. "The Tawk is wrong sometimes. It's happened before when people do unexpected things to change their destiny. Everyone's got free will and all that crap." She looked back at Yuugi. "But I guess in this instance it was right."

Yuugi swallowed, feeling like she wanted to be sick. "Your sister really thinks we're the hikaris, doesn't she?"

"I'm afraid so. No matter what I tell her, she refuses to think otherwise. And to be honest, as much as I hate to even consider the idea, I'm starting to think that she might be right. Isis told me that gender doesn't really matter. It's the strength of the magic that counts."

"But we don't even have magic," Ryou grumbled, folding her arms across her chest.

"I said the same thing, and she just said that we do but that it works differently."

Jou looked from Yuugi to Ryou to Malik, studying the three identical upset expressions, before she closed her eyes and sighed. "Alright, as much as I hate to say this I'm beginning to think that maybe we shouldn't go to this meeting after all. I mean, it seems like we're going to be tempting fate by bringing the Millennium Items along. I don't want to be responsible for the end of the world."

It was an excellent excuse to not have to go to the meeting. But suddenly, Yuugi realized that she _wanted_ to go. There was no way she was going to let the Puzzle stop her from doing so, either. "No, we came here to go and we're going," she said stubbornly. "No one except for the four of us will know about the Items, and the Resistance is always careful about where they meet. I think we'll be alright."

"Are you sure?" Jou asked, looking surprised. "I mean, considering that I practically had to bribe you to come here in the first place I would've thought that you'd have taken the chance to leave while you had it."

Yuugi flushed. "I'm sure. I don't see why we should have to leave just because of the Millennium Items. I mean, maybe Isis is wrong. We might not be the hikaris after all." She took a deep breath, hoping it would calm the buzzing sound thrumming through her ears. She was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to be able to hear the sound of her heartbeat like that. "And even if she isn't, we can't just stop living our lives because of them. I refuse to sit in my bedroom and spend all my time worrying about what might happen. You wanted to go to this meeting, Jou, so we're going to go, and afterwards we're going to go get some hamburgers at _Burger World_. It will be just a normal night."

"Aside from the fact that we're breaking the law by going to a meeting of the Resistance, you mean," Malik said, grinning. Her amusement faded, though, when she glanced at Jou. "There's something I forgot to mention. Isis also told me that she thinks your mate is very close to the Pharaoh."

Amber eyes widened slightly. "Isis said that?"

"Yeah. She didn't tell me anything else. I don't know if it's because she doesn't know or because she just didn't want to say." Malik stopped and pressed her lips together, a thin line appearing between her eyebrows. "It never occurred to me before how much Isis had hidden from me. I thought that we told each other everything, but it turns out she's been keeping a lot to herself. It makes me wonder what else she might be keeping a secret. I hate the thought of her springing something else on us."

Ryou and Yuugi exchanged looks. It was difficult to offer Malik any comfort when she was probably correct: Yuugi had always suspected, though she'd never dared say as much, that there were a lot of things that Isis Ishtar didn't freely share with the world. The Millennium Tawk left Isis privy to a lot of sensitive information that, in the wrong hands, probably could've changed everything as they knew it. So it wasn't surprising to hear that Isis had been keeping things from her sister as well. But it was obvious that the realization had upset Malik, who had always had a bit of a blind spot when it came to Isis. It was her first taste of the fact that Isis was less than perfect, and Malik didn't seem to be taking it well.

Finally, Ryou reached out and squeezed her hand. "I'm sure that Isis thinks it's for the best," she said delicately, and then before Malik could respond she added, "Tell me, do you know - how would we know if we had found our yami?"

"Why do you ask?" Malik asked, seemingly forgetting all about Isis in the wake of this fascinating question. Jou and Yuugi also stared at her in surprise, and Ryou's cheeks flushed from the attention.

"I just - on the way over here, I banged into this guy on the street. My mark started to hurt," Ryou said, unconsciously touching her chest. "It was almost like someone had burned me there. It was the same feeling, hot and really intense, as when I put on the Millennium Ring for the first time. And I swear that I felt some sort of energy coming off of the Ring, though that could also be my imagination. I think one of the points on the cones pricked me through my shirt."

"I'm not sure _how_ you'd know," Malik said slowly. "I never thought to ask. That sounds really weird, though. My mark has never hurt before. Has yours?" She glanced at Yuugi, who shook her head.

"My mother," Jou said unexpectedly, "told me once that I would know I'd found my mate when my mark let me know. She said that it would have some sort of reaction when I came into contact with my mate for the first time, and that there would be no mistaking that feeling. But she couldn't tell me any more than that. She doesn't have a mark of her own. Maybe your marks work the same way...?"

None of them said anything for a few minutes, each of them silently absorbing what Jou had said. Then Malik sighed. "It's impossible to know. I could ask but... at this rate I'm not sure I would be willing to believe whatever it is Isis says to me, anyway. If you remember what that guy looked like, Ryou, make sure you keep an eye out for him. I wish I'd been paying more attention, but I wasn't." She paused before adding, "And if you two start to feel anything when you touch someone, make sure you don't let them get away!"

"I'll tackle him or her to the ground," Jou promised somberly, and Yuugi giggled.

"I can just imagine it," she joked. "You tackling some poor kid to the ground because they made your mark tingle. I bet that would go over well!"

Malik and Ryou both laughed. Jou pretended to pout before she finally cracked a smile. "Okay, maybe I won't go that far," she conceded, checking her watch. "Come on, we're going to be late."

"I didn't realize these meetings had a strict policy about time," Malik muttered to Ryou as they started hurrying towards the end of the street. Ryou just shrugged in response.

The address where the meeting was being held was for a lovely little blue house on the corner. It did not look like the kind of place where a Resistance meeting would be held, but maybe that was the whole point. Jou took out the piece of paper and examined it, eyeing the number on the house. Finally she nodded and charged up the walkway, knocking on the door. Yuugi, Ryou and Malik followed her more slowly, and because of that Yuugi wasn't close enough to hear what the person at the door said when it opened a crack. But whatever Jou responded with was enough to gain them admittance into the darkened interior of the house.

There was a girl standing there waiting for them, her arms folded across her chest. She was about Malik's height, with long, slightly curly black hair gathered up into a high ponytail. Her eyes were sharp, starkly outlined in kohl, and she openly examined the four of them as they shuffled into the house. "Names?" she demanded curtly, looking like she wasn't afraid to kick them out if she didn't like what she heard.

"Yuugi, Jou, Ryou and Malik," Yuugi told her, trying not to be too obvious she examined the girl's gorgeous dress. It was a beautiful green color that perfectly matched the girl's eyes, and it fit her well: tucking in at the waist, highlighting the swell of her breasts, and falling to just above mid-thigh. Yuugi suddenly felt underdressed.

She stared at them for a moment longer, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. There was a shift in the shadows behind her, and Yuugi caught a glimpse of armor that vanished like smoke before the girl's lips lifted in a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Good. Sorry, just had to make sure that you weren't here to bust us," she said, tapping her foot. Yuugi looked down at her feet, caught a glimpse of the knee-high fitted black boots, and swallowed.

"No, we're not here to, um - this_ is_ a meeting of the Resistance, right?" she asked, wondering if Jou had gotten the address wrong after all.

"Rule number one, honey? Don't go around saying things like that. You'd have got yourself into a hell of a lot of trouble if you said that to the wrong person," she replied. "But yes, you're in the right place and that's what we're all here for. My name is Ryuuji."

"Oh! I know you. I was given your name," Jou said.

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. They try to stick me with all of the newbies," Ryuuji said, rolling her eyes. "The meeting is just about to start. Tonight is more of an informal thing, a way for us to get together and report on the progress that's been done since the last time we met. Come find me afterwards and I'll hook you up with someone who will be able to give you something to do." She turned on her heel with those parting words and vanished through the doorway without waiting to see if they were going to follow.

Yuugi was tempted to just turn around and leave. Ryuuji's brisk manner was intimidating. But one glance at Jou's face told her that was not going to work. Jou looked way too excited. She concealed a sigh and clutched her purse even tighter as they walked through the doorway into what was apparently the living room. There was a door open on the far side of the room, leading to a set of stairs. The voices drifting up told her that was where Ryuuji had most likely gone. She took the stairs first, with Jou, Malik and Ryou right behind her.

The basement was much larger than she would have guessed, and there were quite a few people milling around talking, all of them with partner monsters. Yuugi didn't recognize any of them, but she did notice that most of them - and there was a fair mix of both boys and girls - weren't any older than she was. The oldest was a woman who looked to be in her early twenties. She had long blonde hair, and she was one of the people standing up on the little stage, deeply involved in a conversation with Ryuuji.

"Is it just me, or does anyone else feel super awkward?" Malik asked under her breath as they gathered near the back of the room, well out of sight of anyone else.

"I'm with you," admitted Yuugi, relieved to know that she wasn't the only one who felt out of place. Clearly everyone else already knew each other, and they were all standing around in little groups talking to each other. It was a little like trying to infiltrate the cliques that were so popular at Domino High: nearly impossible.

"It's not that bad," Jou said, looking around. "Oh my god."

"What's wrong?" Yuugi started to ask, but at that moment the woman up on the stage clapped her hands and called for attention.

"Hey! Alright, I think that just about everyone is here. I see some new faces. That's good. I assume that they were given the test to make sure that they're safe?" the woman said, glancing at Ryuuji. When Ryuuji nodded, Yuugi frowned. She hadn't felt any spells when they walked into the house, and she hadn't noticed Ryuuji casting any either. "Good. For everyone who doesn't know me, my name is Mai and this is my partner, Harpy Lady." She indicated the monster that was lazily reclining at the back of the stage. Harpy Lady lifted her head and voiced a sharp whistle that made the hair on the back of Yuugi's neck rise.

"So, basically what we're going to do today is see where everyone is with their missions," Mai went on. "I'd like each of you to come up to me and Ryuuji and give us as much detail as possible. The rest of you are free to talk amongst yourselves, but remember we ask that you keep the personal details of your mission private. Even with our tests, you never know who could be listening." She gave a little laugh that didn't sound very amused. "We'll start with you, Mako."

As a nicely muscled man made his way up to the front, Yuugi turned towards Jou. "What's wrong?" she asked again, alarmed by the way that Jou's face had paled.

"Tell me that I'm seeing things, _please_," Jou said.

Yuugi looked around, but she didn't see anything that would cause Jou to panic. She shot a questioning glance at Ryou and Malik, but both of them looked as confused as she felt. "I can't tell you that until I know what you're looking at," she pointed out.

Jou lifted her hand and gestured towards something behind them. "Tell me that's not _my sister_."

"What?" Yuugi, Ryou and Malik all said together, automatically turning in the direction that Jou was pointing. Yuugi's jaw dropped when she saw the girl. There was no mistaking the long auburn hair or that pretty, laughing face: it was definitely Kawai Shizuka.

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Please review!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy.

* * *

The look on Shizuka's face when Jou came through the crowd and grabbed her arm was priceless. She had been talking to another girl who looked to be about the same age as her, and when she felt the hand on her arm she turned around with an annoyed expression. It disappeared quickly when she realized that she was staring at her big sister, and that Jou did _not_ look impressed. Her mouth dropped open and then closed as she tried and failed to come up with some sort of response.

"What are you doing here?" Jou hissed, not waiting for her to come up with an excuse. This was the last place that she was expecting to see Shizuka. As far as she knew, her little sister had nothing to do with the Resistance. She would have preferred it if Shizuka didn't even know what the Resistance _was_.

"It's good to see you too, Nee-chan," Shizuka said, finally recovering from the surprise. "I guess I could ask you the same question. I've never seen you here before."

"This is the first time I've come. But that's not the point. Shizuka, if you got caught you would be in a lot of trouble. It's not safe for you to be here."

"Technically, the same argument could apply to you." She reached up and gently pried Jou's hand loose from her upper arm, though she didn't try to step away. Fortunately, her friend seemed to have gotten the hint and had left them to speak alone. "Look, why don't we go upstairs where we won't interrupt anyone?"

"That's the first good idea you've had all night," Jou muttered. Making a scene was not in her plans, but she was itching to interrogate Shizuka and find out exactly what her sister was up to. She led the way through the crowd towards the stairs and made Shizuka go up first. As they ascended, the noise level dropped significantly. It was much quieter upstairs, and they didn't have to communicate by yelling - which was actually not a plus in Jou's opinion, because she wanted to do some shouting.

Shizuka must have realized that, because she held up her hands. "Before you explode, please let me explain something. I know that it's dangerous for me to be here, and that if Kaiba Corp catches any one of us we could be put away for life. But I've accepted all that, and I still want to be here. I feel like I _have _to be here, Nee-chan. I can't explain why, I just do."

"Jeez, Shizuka." Jou closed her eyes briefly, all of her anger deflating in a rush. It was hard to admonish Shizuka when she looked so earnest. "Does Ma know you're here?"

"God no," Shizuka said immediately, shaking her head for emphasis. "How stupid do you think I am? There's no way she would have agreed to let me come! And if I'd even suggested it to her, she'd be even more paranoid than normal and monitor everything I did for the next six months. No, she thinks that I'm spending the night with Akemi-chan, that's all."

"Akemi?"

"The girl I was talking to before you came over and interrupted." Shizuka smiled to show that she wasn't upset by that. How could she be when she was pretty sure that she had successfully distracted Jou from a scolding? "I told Mom that we were going to be studying the different duel academies and deciding which ones we wanted to apply for when the time came. She doesn't like the thought of me going to an academy, but she hasn't figured out how to tell me no yet."

"Clever," Jou said, impressed in spite of herself. As long as their mother thought that Shizuka was doing something that could be termed relatively safe, she wouldn't pry into what Shizuka was really doing. It was probably something that Shizuka had learned from Jou. She wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not. "But instead, you decided to come here."

"Well, to be fair we actually did look at the pamphlets for a while. But it only took me about two seconds to make my choice. I want to go to Central Academy like you."

"Shizuka, it hasn't been decided whether or not I got in."

"Oh right, like there's even a chance that you won't. You're one of the best duelists out there after Yuugi-san, Nee-chan. I know she's got a lot of natural talent at the game, but you actually work hard to learn the best strategies and at perfecting your skills. I can't think of a single reason why they wouldn't want someone with your determination." Shizuka folded her arms resolutely. "You're definitely going to get in."

Jou had to smile. Shizuka had always been her biggest advocate, and distance hadn't changed that. "I don't suppose there's any point in telling you to go back to Akemi's house?"

"You can tell me to do it, but then you're going to get mad because I won't listen," Shizuka answered honestly. "I think it's probably for the best if you don't bother, don't you?"

"I guess." Jou sighed. She didn't really think it was for the best at all, but she also knew that even though Shizuka was naturally very sweet and soft-spoken her sister had a core of steel when she needed it. Shizuka could be almost as stubborn as Jou was. Insisting that Shizuka leave would mean that they'd end up fighting, and then Shizuka would just ignore her anyway. And since the two of them rarely got to see each other, that was not how Jou wanted to spend their time together. She settled for consoling herself with the idea that if Shizuka was there at the meeting with her, she could protect her. She tried not to think about the meetings Shizuka had probably attended alone.

Now it was Shizuka's turn to smile, clearly pleased that she'd worn Jou down so expertly. "Besides, look at it this way. I'll be able to give you all of the inside information."

"I'd much rather you texted it to me from the safety of Akemi's house, but I'll take what I can get." Jou folded her arms and leaned against the wall, remembering something else that Mai had said. She started to frown. "Part of this meeting is to report in on where you are with the tasks you've been assigned. Please tell me you're not actually doing stuff for the Resistance."

"Well..." Shizuka winced, looking guilty.

"Shizuka!"

"Relax! I don't do very much, I swear. Mai-san and Ryuuji-san gave me and Akemi-chan some of the flyers they've had printed up. I think Ryuuji-san's boyfriend does them for free. He works at KC News. Anyway, all Akemi-chan and I have to do is ride the subway and leave some of the flyers behind when we get off. They're hoping that the people who find them will read them and start to question Kaiba Corp's control."

It didn't sound too dangerous, but Jou was still worried. Shizuka could get into trouble if she was found with Resistance propaganda. "What do the flyers say?"

"The basic stuff about how the strength of magic doesn't depend on whether you're a boy or a girl, and that Kaiba Corp doesn't really have the right to have as much control of the world as they do. They took it illegally and changed the laws so that no one could get them into trouble." Shizuka scowled. "That Kaiba Gozaburo is a really awful man."

"I know," Jou said quietly. "You're sure you haven't done anything else?"

"I'm positive. I'm telling you the truth, Nee-chan. Ryuuji-san says that Akemi-chan and I are just too young to do anything else. Once in a while she asks us to take notes at the meetings when the members come up to file their reports, but that's it."

"So you really do know everything, then," said Jou, realizing that Shizuka's offer to tell her everything she knew was actually a lot more valuable than she'd thought. On the one hand, that would work out well for Jou, Yuugi, Malik and Ryou. But on the other hand, it meant Shizuka was even more at risk than she'd guessed. Kaiba Corp would probably be very interested in someone who could provide them with so much information. She put a hand to her head. "Are you absolutely sure I can't convince you to go home?"

"Yes," Shizuka replied. She reached out and took her sister's arm. "Now come here, I need to show you something so that you don't get all freaked out when you see him. They really hate when people do that."

Too curious to protest, Jou allowed Shizuka to tug her back down into the basement. Yuugi, Ryou and Malik were still clustered near the stairs, but they didn't look as nervous as they had when Jou left them. Shizuka marched straight over to them, and Ryou gave her a friendly smile. "Hello, Shizuka-chan."

"Hi, Ryou-san," Shizuka said. "Yuugi-san, Malik-san. I knew as soon as I saw Nee-chan that you guys would be here, too. You four never do anything separate from each other."

"It was all Jou's idea," Yuugi told her, and Shizuka grinned.

"I didn't expect anything less. Now listen, this is important. Do you see those guys standing over in the corner? Don't be obvious about looking, be casual, they also hate it when you stare."

Whoever these guys were they seemed to hate a lot of things, Jou noted as she turned her head slightly. The angle made her neck start to hurt almost immediately, but she forgot all about the pain as soon as she realized who she was looking at. Kaiba Gozaburo was a private man for the most part, but he had never made any effort to conceal the face of his adopted son Kaiba Seto from the media and general public, and as a result Seto was almost as well known as his father. So to say that Jou was shocked to see Seto standing in the corner with two other boys was an understatement.

"Holy shit!" Malik whispered, voicing the collective surprise of them all. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Yes, that's Kaiba Seto. He's actually a member of the Resistance," Shizuka said, deliberately keeping her voice low enough that it was barely audible over the general hum. "Actually, he and that other guy, the one with hair like Yuugi's, pretty much _started_ the Resistance."

"I'm going to guess that Gozaburo doesn't know," said Jou, studying the three boys with more interest. Seto's face was familiar to her, the deep brown hair and cool blue eyes that had sent more than one girl their age into a frenzy. He was taller, towering over her by a good head, while the other two boys were both shorter than she was. One of them had tri-color hair - gold, black, and crimson tips - and crimson eyes, while the other had white hair and dark brown eyes.

Shizuka gave a short laugh. "Um, that would be a no."

"I don't understand," Yuugi said, sneaking another peek. "If Kaiba doesn't agree with what his father is doing, why doesn't he do something to stop him?"

"I don't think he can. It's not for lack of wanting to. I heard that Gozaburo has something on Seto that forces him to do whatever Gozaburo wants. It's blackmail," Shizuka replied. Judging from the expression on her face, Jou was willing to bet that Shizuka had a lot better idea of what Seto was being blackmailed with than she was letting on. But she didn't press her sister, not right then. There were too many people around.

"Who are those other guys with them?" Ryou asked. Her voice was quivering, and when Jou glanced at her she realized that Ryou was shaking.

"Yami and Bakura. Yami is the one with the weird hair. He's Seto's cousin, and I'm pretty sure he's being blackmailed, too. But not Bakura. Gozaburo has something entirely _different_ on him."

Jou wasn't sure she liked the way Shizuka said that. "What do you mean?"

"It's the same thing Gozaburo forces every Kaiba Corp employee to wear. A special tracking device worn around one of your ankles. If you misbehave, or do something that Gozaburo doesn't want you to, it can cause pain or even death with just the push of a button." Shizuka looked furious. "Bakura's great with tools, but not even he can get it off. The only reason they're here is because Seto's got some sort of spell that lets him block the transmission for a while."

"That's horrible," Yuugi muttered.

Ryou coughed. Her face had gone pale. "I think that guy - Bakura. I think he's the one I bumped into on the street."

"Are you sure?" Jou immediately took a closer look at Bakura. She didn't think she liked the look of him. He was just standing there with his back to the corner, not with Yami and Seto but not entirely separate either. His face was set into a calm mask that was impossible to interpret, but one look at his folded arms and tense shoulders would have told anyone that he wasn't exactly pleased to be there.

"Pretty sure. I didn't get that good a look at him, but I remember that he had white hair. And when you said his name - I think one of the guys he was with, Yami, called him that."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go talk to him!" Malik said.

"Go talk to him? Are you crazy? What would I say? Excuse me, but do you have the symbol of Ra on your chest? Did it burn when I bumped into you?" Ryou looked at Malik like she was crazy. "He's going to think I'm nuts, and that's if he doesn't report me for possibly being a hikari."

"You don't have to mention that. Just talk to him about anything, even the Resistance and what you can do to help. And while you're there, you can casually touch into him and see if the same thing happens. Flirt a little, it's not _that_ hard Ryou." Malik set a firm hand against Ryou's back and gave her a none too gentle shove in the direction of Bakura. Ryou stumbled, regained her balance and kept walking, her cheeks flushed but expression determined.

"I wonder if that's really Ryou's yami," Yuugi said thoughtfully. "They look sort of alike, don't you think?"

Malik looked from Yuugi to Yami and Seto, and it would have been difficult to believe that she was a hikari at that moment because there was pure evil in her face. "You know, you're right. I do think that they have similar features, and if that's the case for Ryou then it might be the same for you. Come on, you two." She grabbed Yuugi and Jou by the wrist and started dragging them through the crowd, using pointy elbows to get people to move out of the way.

"Hang on! What are you doing?" Jou hissed, trying without success to stop their progress. It wasn't working - Malik was strong when she wanted to be - and Shizuka was just standing there, too busy laughing to help.

"Yuugi needs to talk to Yami, and you're going to distract Seto so that she can."

"Why can't _you_ distract Seto?"

"Don't be silly, Jou."

As far as Jou knew, there was nothing silly about that question. But she didn't get the chance to point it out. Malik gave her a good push and she almost tripped over her own two feet, falling hard against the wall less than five inches away from Kaiba Seto's head. He jumped at her unexpected appearance, and as Jou pushed herself off of the wall and stood up straight she had the horrible feeling that she was blushing. _Damn_ Malik, she was going to make sure that the blonde paid for this somehow.

Seto eyed her coolly. "What?" he demanded when she didn't speak. His voice was low and rich, but he had less of an accent than she would have expected.

"Sorry," Jou said, running a hand through her hair sheepishly and realizing that Seto definitely didn't look like he wanted to be distracted. He was standing stiff, arms folded across his chest, and he was looking at her like she was a bug he might accidentally step on if she didn't say the right thing. However, his derision did help to calm her down. "I didn't mean to disturb you. Or scare you."

His face darkened slightly. "I wasn't _scared_. I'm not sure how anyone could ever be scared of a girl like you."

Jou's mouth dropped open. "You did _not_ just say what I think you said."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I don't have time to listen to the blathering of idiots. I've got more important things to do, like standing here bored out of mind."

This time when her cheeks flushed, it was out of pure rage. Jou didn't think she had ever met anyone who had the ability to piss her off so much after less than two minutes of conversation, but Seto had accomplished that quite nicely. "You," she said slowly and clearly, "are a complete bastard."

And then she punched him in the face.

It was totally worth it. Seto didn't even see the blow coming. She knocked him back against the wall so hard that he stumbled and fell into Yami and both of them went down in a heap, nearly taking Yuugi down with them. Yuugi caught her balance at the last minute but then just stood there, frozen, staring down at Yami and Seto with wide eyes. Jou shook out her hand, realizing that the skin where she'd impacted against Seto's face was fizzing pleasantly, and grabbed Yuugi's wrist.

"Come on. We're leaving," she said, not surprised to see that Ryou had joined them. She didn't know where Malik was and she didn't care. As far as she was concerned, the night had been a complete bust.

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Please review!


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews! I hope you enjoy.

* * *

There was a small chance -_ very_ small, mind - that Isis might have been right to keep what she knew about the future out of Malik's hands. Because Malik had discovered, in the span of about five minutes, that playing with the future was just too much fun. She stood back and watched as Ryou attempted to make small talk with a clearly disinterested Bakura and Yuugi stared at the ground while Yami stared at her and Seto said something to Jou that made Jou turn an unpleasant purple color, and she couldn't help being deeply amused. Whether they knew it or not, she had the feeling her friends had all found their mates - even Jou.

"Nee-chan would be proud," she muttered, folding her arms across her chest. Well, either that or she'd be furious. What were the chances that everything would happen here, on this night? No wonder Isis hadn't protested when she'd stormed out of the apartment earlier. Her sister had probably known exactly where she was going and why, as well as what was going to happen once they got there. The only thing missing was -

Hands touched Malik's shoulders, lightly skimming over the fabric of her shirt, and the breath left her rush. She stayed where she was, not turning, just continued looking at her friends without actually seeing them, too preoccupied with the way that the mark on her belly suddenly began to throb when one of those hands brushed against the bare skin of her upper arms. It was a strange feeling, not quite painful but not pleasurable either, but hot like she was being slowly burned.

My yami, she thought giddily, her eyes fluttering shut. Normally she would've turned around and punched anyone who had dared to touch her like this without her permission, but she didn't feel threatened by whoever was standing behind her. She licked her lips, realizing that her mouth had gone dry, and said, "Who are you?"

A low chuckle sounded directly in her ear. "That would be cheating, wouldn't it?"

The voice was husky and deep. Male. Malik smiled. "I guess that depends on whether or not you want to go through life as a cheater," she said. Hearing a commotion, she opened her eyes again. She wasn't sure whether to laugh or groan at what she saw. Jou was standing over Seto and Yami with her hand clenched into a fist, and it wasn't too hard to guess that she'd just made good use of it. As she watched, Jou reached over and grabbed Yuugi's arm, pulling her towards the stairs with Ryou right behind them.

"You have to go," he noted. Hot breath gusted over her neck, and then a kiss was placed over the skin just beneath her ear. A tingling feeling rushed through her body. "Don't look back."

Malik usually didn't follow the rules unless there was something in it for her. In this case, she would have been better off knowing the identity of the person standing behind her. But for reasons she couldn't quite identify, she obeyed. She took off after her friends without looking over her shoulder, so she didn't see the blond boy with the knowing smirk staring after her as she hurried up the stairs. She knew that Ryou, Jou and Yuugi would be waiting for her outside, but she still took a minute to lean against the wall once she was at the top.

God, her legs felt weak.

"I can't believe you punched him!" Yuugi was saying when Malik stumbled out a couple of minutes later. She had her hands on her hips and was staring disapprovingly at Jou. "You can't just go around hitting people, Jou, and especially not someone like Kaiba Seto. If he finds out who you are, you could get you arrested!"

"You should've heard what he said to me!" Jou sputtered back, the color in her cheeks still high. "That utter bastard - he's lucky the only thing I did was punch him. And you!" She turned on Malik so quickly that Malik stopped short, hands coming up instinctively to ward off any blows that might have been coming. "What is the _matter_ with you? Don't ever push me into something like that again, Malik, or you'll be next."

"Push you into what? Talking to someone?" Malik shot back, shaking off the last remnants of the fog. It was like coming out of a daze. She put her hands on her hips. "It's not my fault that Kaiba is an asshole, Jou. It's not like I _know_ the guy. I didn't realize he'd say whatever it is he said."

Jou just huffed. "Asshole is the least of it."

"Was it at least worth it?" Malik looked at Yuugi and Ryou hopefully.

Ryou shrugged. "Bakura didn't really want to talk," she confessed. "When I came over to him, he just stood there and stared at me no matter what I said. I think the meaning of small talk was completely lost on him, and I felt so stupid that I didn't even get the chance to touch him. I'm not sure what he would have done if I had tried, but I don't think it would've been pretty."

"I had a little bit better luck," Yuugi offered shyly. She was blushing again. "I noticed that Yami wears a wristband just like mine." She held up her hand to show off the band that covered her mark. "Of course, it might not mean anything. Plenty of people wear them. But when Jou knocked Kaiba over, Yami's hand brushed against me when he was trying to keep his balance. It was only for a second, but I'm pretty sure I felt something. I was just so surprised that I pulled away and Yami fell over, and then Jou wanted to leave."

"What did it feel like?" Malik asked.

Yuugi considered. "It's hard to say because we didn't touch for very long, but my mark started feel hot. Almost like I was being burned." She looked around and then tugged the band up just far enough for them to see. All four of them gasped. Before, Yuugi's mark had been just simple faded lines against her skin. Now it was bright red and raw, like it had been freshly pressed into her flesh.

Immediately, Malik pulled her skirt down far enough to bare her hip and Ryou unzipped her jacket and pulled the hem of her top down. Their marks were the same, though Ryou's wasn't quite as fresh looking since it had been a few hours since she'd encountered Bakura. Yuugi glanced from her wrist to Ryou's chest to Malik's belly before understanding hit, and she snapped her head up to stare at Malik with wide eyes. Malik was the one who flushed this time.

"Oh my god, you met yours too!" Yuugi squeaked.

"He came up behind me," Malik admitted, shivering with the memory of those warm hands. "I didn't get a good look at him, but he must have known who I was."

"That's creepy," Jou said flatly. Malik blinked at her for a moment, shocked, and then started to laugh. Before long they were all giggling, and Malik realized that it felt really good. All of the day's tension and stress was finally starting to go away. She wiped her eyes and finally had to look away from her friends until she got herself under control. It was too hard trying to be serious when she kept laughing all over again as soon as she caught someone's eye.

"You guys, stop! My phone is ringing," she finally had to say, reaching for the outside pocket of her messenger bag. She checked the display and wasn't at all surprised to see that the caller was Isis. She was half tempted to not answer at all, but she knew from experience that Isis would just keep calling back until Malik did. Her sister was stubborn that way, and since it would also mean being treated to a sixty minute lecture about how the reason Malik had a phone in the first place was so that Isis could keep in contact with her, she put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Malik, where are you and your friends headed now?" Isis asked without even bothering to say hello. It was obvious that she knew exactly what had just happened, and Malik rolled her eyes.

"You know I hate it when you do that," she said.

"_Malik_."

"Okay, okay. God, I don't know. We hadn't really talked about it," Malik replied. She didn't think that there was any chance the four of them would be heading back into the meeting, even though Jou would be pissed when she realized that Shizuka was still inside. Once Seto recovered from the shock of the blow, he was likely going to be furious. Malik had no interest in being hauled off to prison.

"I need you and your friends to come to the game shop."

"The game shop. Do I want to know why you want us to come there?" Even as Malik spoke, she realized that there was no one on the other end: she was talking to the dial tone. She made a frustrated sound and hung up, not surprised to see that her three friends were watching her curiously.

"Isis?" Ryou asked.

Malik nodded. "I have the feeling that we played into her plans perfectly tonight," she said sourly. Okay, it wasn't nearly as much fun when someone else was doing the meddling. She hated being predictable. "She knew exactly where we were, and she probably waited just long enough to make sure that we were outside before she called. I_ hate_ when she does that."

"Is she at the game shop?" Yuugi said, looking surprised. "I didn't think Isis-san liked it there."

"She doesn't." Which made Malik even more curious to know why her sister was there. The very first time that she'd taken Isis over to Yuugi's house, Isis had spent all of five minutes looking around before she left. She hadn't even stuck around long enough to meet Yuugi's grandfather - ironic, considering that she was the one who had put up such a fuss about it in the first place. Or rude, Malik hadn't yet decided which.

Jou asked the obvious question. "Should we go?"

No one said anything for a minute, and then Malik sighed and slipped her phone back into its pocket. "I have to. She'll never let me hear the end of it if I don't."

"I should too," said Yuugi. "Jii-chan would probably appreciate it."

"Just let me get Shizuka, and I'll come too," said Jou.

"You can't go get Shizuka, Jou," Ryou said patiently. "If you go back in there, Kaiba's probably going to punch you. Well, actually that's probably the least of what he'll do. Besides, Shizuka-san has every right to be in there. She's been going to these meetings for a long time from the sound of it, and it seems like she knows what she's doing."

Jou frowned slightly, but she had to admit that Ryou had a point. "She could get into all sorts of trouble, though."

"And so could you if you go back in there," said Malik, throwing an arm around Jou's shoulders. She was just tall enough that the angle wasn't too awkward, though she had to stand up on the tips of her toes to do it. "Come on. We'll go to the Kame Game Shop and find out what my nosey sister wants. And maybe if it doesn't take too long, we'll call Shizuka-san and meet her and her friend for some ice cream. Then you can hear every detail about what goes on without having to get yourself in trouble, and you can make sure Shizuka-san is still in one piece."

It wasn't what Jou wanted, but she knew it was the closest thing she was going to get. "Alright," she conceded. "But if anything happens to Shizuka, I'm holding you responsible."

"Done," Malik said, crossing her fingers and praying that nothing would happen.

**AU**

Kaiba Seto was not impressed. No, actually, he was Not. Impressed. Yami thought that the capital letters were an important distinction as he and his cousin separated themselves. Most of the people attending the meeting knew Seto well enough to know that staring at them would be like a death sentence. But Yami still caught most of them doing an abrupt about-face when they realized that Seto had sat up. He hid a smile and carefully eased his legs out from under Seto's torso, realizing that he'd have a nice bruise to show off later on. Seto was tall and well built, and that meant he was not light. But it was almost worth the pain and embarrassment from falling just to see the shiner developing around Seto's right eye.

"She punched me!" Seto said, sounding stunned. He gingerly probed at the flesh around his eye. A lesser man probably would have winced, but Kaiba Seto was not that sort of man. He did grit his teeth, though, which told Yami exactly how much it hurt.

"You probably deserved it," said Bakura. The thief was still standing exactly where he'd been before the two of them went down in a heap, only now he looked a lot more amused than he had before. "I haven't seen anyone be that mad at you in a long time, Seto. Whatever you said to her, you managed to push her buttons just right. Good job. She had a nice right hook."

Seto shot him a dark glare, and if there hadn't been so many witnesses he probably would've cursed at Bakura. Instead, he swallowed whatever response was on the tip of his tongue and got to his feet with as much dignity as possible. Yami stood up too, lightly dusting at his clothing. For the first time, he noticed that his wrist was aching in a very peculiar spot. A very special spot. His eyes widened slightly. He didn't remember hitting his wrist when he fell, but he supposed that it could have happened. He'd been fairly preoccupied with the heavy weight coming down on top of him, after all. He flexed his wrist lightly and winced when it stung even more, like he was irritating an open wound.

"What _did_ you say to her?" he asked, looking up at his cousin.

"Nothing!" Seto said defensively. "I just said I had no time to speak to her."

Yami and Bakura exchanged looks. Coming from anyone else, that would've sounded like enough evidence to prove his innocence. But Seto had the unique - or unfortunate, depending on who you spoke to - ability to make even the nicest of comments sound like insults. If it weren't for his status as Gozaburo's heir, he probably would've been slapped a lot more. "Well," Yami said carefully, recognizing that Seto's pride had been wounded, "I guess that she must have taken it the wrong way. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Seto touched his cheek again, then stiffened when he realized that they were being watched. His arm dropped to his side immediately. "Who were those girls, anyway?"

"You know, I don't know," Yami said slowly, realizing that he really didn't. The one who'd approached him had been cute. Her hair had been similar to his in terms of coloring, only instead of sticking up in spikes it fell in soft curls around her shoulders, and she'd had beautiful violet eyes. He'd wanted to talk to her more, and now it was setting in that he didn't even know her name.

"I want to know." Blue eyes narrowed, Seto searched the crowd until he spotted his query. He stormed over, the people in his way parting to let him pass without comment, until he was standing in front of Shizuka. "Who was that girl?" he demanded.

Shizuka tipped her head back and regarded him calmly. Under the bright lights, her auburn hair looked more chestnut than red. "What girl?"

"The one who hit me. I saw you talking to her. You know her."

"Yes, I do," Shizuka agreed. "But I'm afraid I can't tell you anything other than that her name is Jou."

"Why not?" If Seto had been capable of pouting, he would've been. Yami didn't blame him. He kind of wanted to pick Shizuka up and shake her until her little bits of knowledge sprinkled the floor.

"Because you know the rules, Seto-san. In fact, you were the one who made them," Shizuka replied. "No one has to give anything other than their first name. And as long as they pass the test, they can join. Those girls all passed the test if Ryuuji-san let them come down here." She folded her arms. "And even if I_ did_ their know full names, I wouldn't tell you because of the privacy clause."

The privacy clause. Yami felt like hitting his head against the wall. It was one of the first rules they'd set into place. Anyone could invoke it at any time, and it meant that any details concerning their personal lives that were not strictly necessary didn't have to be shared. Seto would have to prove that not learning Jou's name would be somehow dangerous to the Resistance or a specific member, and Yami knew his cousin couldn't do that because there was no proof. It was possible that Shizuka was related to Jou, but Seto couldn't do a search that way even if he did know Shizuka's last name; it would be breaking the clause and could get them banned from their own organization. Seto would never risk that.

"Fine," he ground out finally. "But if I ever see her again, I'll make her regret punching me."

"You do that," Shizuka said softly as Seto whirled on his heel and stalked away. She glanced at Yami and raised a curious eyebrow.

"Those other girls..." Yami said, feeling a slight flush rise in his cheeks.

She smiled. "Their names were Ryou and Malik, and the one who came to talk to you - that was Yuugi."

Yuugi. Yami liked the sound of that. "Thanks," he said, and went to pacify his cousin.

* * *

Please review!


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Keep enjoying!

* * *

The Kame Game Shop had closed for the night by the time that Yuugi and her friends got there. Considering that it was after dark on a school night, Yuugi wasn't really all that surprised. She unlocked the door and stepped aside to let Malik, Ryou and Jou in before entering herself. She swept an experienced eye over the shop as she closed and locked the door behind them, noting that while everything was dusted and swept not all of the new stock had been put out. That was unusual for Sugoroku, who always liked to finish a job before retiring for the night. Something must have disturbed him before he could finish, and she didn't have to think too hard to figure out what that something was.

"They must be in the back," she said, shoving her keys in her pockets. Her grandfather usually liked it when she used the back entrance when the shop was closed, but in this case she was making an exception. She nodded towards the doorway, and Malik squared her shoulders and marched through like she was planning to go to war. Jou and Ryou followed right behind her, with Yuugi bringing up the rear.

Isis and Sugoroku were together, just as Malik had predicted. Both of them were seated at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in front of them. Judging by the empty crumb covered plates, they had been there for some time. Yuugi was struck by how_ old_ her grandfather looked when she caught sight of him, before he realized that they were in the room. Sugoroku was sitting with his head bowed, hands clasped firmly n the table before him, and she'd never seen him look that way before. Like the weight of the world had come down on his shoulders, and he couldn't bring himself to straighten up under the pressure of it. Isis, on the other hand, was sipping calmly from her tea.

"Nee-chan," Malik said, and Yuugi was gratified to see Isis jump. Apparently there were some things Isis didn't know.

"Malik. You're here," Isis said, turning towards them. The light glittered off of something gold, and Yuugi's eyes widened. Isis was wearing the Millennium Tawk around her neck. The eye was tucked snugly against her throat and almost seemed to be mocking them.

"I didn't really have a choice," Malik pointed out. "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to speak to Mutou-san about something very important," said Isis, gently setting her cup of tea down on the table.

"Jii-chan?" Yuugi asked.

Sugoroku looked up at her and tried to smile. "It's alright, Yuugi. Why don't you and your friends sit down, and we'll explain as much as we can? I'll get some tea."

"We'll do it," Ryou said before he could stand up. Yuugi shot her a grateful look. Sugoroku didn't look capable of doing anything at the moment, though he never would have willingly admitted defeat. If Yuugi had offered he would've insisted on doing the chore himself, but now that Ryou had offered he would feel compelled to take her up on it. Ryou winked back at her - she knew Sugoroku as well as Yuugi did after all these years - and walked over to the counter. She knew the Mutou's kitchen well, and within five minutes everyone had been served with a fresh cup of tea.

"You met your yami's tonight," Isis said without waiting for anyone else to begin.

Yuugi nearly choked on her tea. "How did you -" she began before shutting up. The Millennium Tawk. Right. She'd known about the Item, but she'd never really seen Isis put her power into practice before. It was eerie. No wonder it bothered Malik as much as it did.

Isis shot her a superior smile. "As I explained to Malik, the future I foresaw is now coming to pass. I knew that you were going to meet your other half's tonight, that _all _of you would." Her glance included Jou, who frowned. "It was just a matter of waiting for the right moment. Now that it has happened, we can finally proceed with the next part of the plan. You have to become closer to your other half's, gain their trust, and there is only one way for you to do that."

"And what would that be?" Yuugi inquired warily. If it was really true, and she _was_ the pharaoh's hikari and Yami was that pharaoh, then she could see a whole host of problems with that. Gozaburo kept his adopted son on an extremely short leash, and if Yami - and Bakura, for that matter - were also under his control then that meant they were likely kept under close watch too. It would be nearly impossible to get close to Yami or Bakura without Gozaburo noticing and paying a lot more attention than was safe.

"Do you remember when I told you that, if you solved the Millennium Puzzle, I would find a way for you to attend Central Academy?" Sugoroku asked.

She paused at that. Of course she remembered. Central Academy was the best school in the country. Regardless of whether people went there to be duelists, or just to gain a better understanding of their partner monsters and the shadow realm from where they came, it had always produced the best of the elite. Graduating from Central Academy was almost a guarantee of an exceptional life. However, it was also a boys only school. No girls allowed. Girls who were deemed to be good enough were sent to Central Academia instead, but it was common knowledge that all of the best and brightest resources were spent on Central Academy first.

Yuugi had been dreaming of going to Central Academy since she was a child. She adored dueling, and it was one of the few areas of her life where she excelled. She had yet to find someone who could beat her, and that included Sugoroku and Jou, both of whom were good duelists in their own right. But she had also grown up with the knowledge that she would never get the chance to go there regardless of what Puzzles she solved, and she'd dismissed his promise as a flight of fancy.

"Yes," she said finally, realizing that he was still looking at her expectantly. "I do remember that. Of course I do. But Jii-chan, I never actually expected you to follow through on that. I mean, it's _Central Academy_. Only boys can go there."

"Exactly," said Isis with a nod, like Yuugi had just divined some incredible secret. "As of six months ago, the newest student list of Central Academy includes Kaiba Seto, Tenno Yami, Takahashi Bakura, and the name of your yami." She glanced at Malik, who made a face.

"Let me guess, you know his name but you can't share," Malik said, rolling her eyes.

"There are some things you need to find out on your own," Isis said diplomatically. "Central Academy is the one place where Gozaburo won't be able to keep such a close eye on the boys."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Ryou. She looked uncomfortable. "I mean, Kaiba Corp founded Central Academy. Most of their graduates go on to be hired by Kaiba Corp. That's why so many people want their kids to end up there."

"That's true. But Gozaburo spends most of his time dealing with Kaiba Corp itself. He leaves the care of the school to one of its shareholders," Isis explained. She glanced at Malik, who shrugged and looked away. "I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but our father is the headmaster at Central Academy."

"What?" Yuugi said, stunned. Out of all the years she'd been friends with Malik, she'd never heard about that before. Malik didn't talk much about her parents. Yuugi knew her mother had died when they were younger, but her father was more of a mystery. All Malik had ever been willing to divulge was that she and Isis did not live with the man, but she had strongly implied that her father wasn't even in Japan. To hear that he was and had such an important job with Kaiba Corp was shocking.

"Malik, why didn't you tell us?" Ryou asked.

"Because it doesn't matter," Malik snapped. "Hafiz is an old bastard who deserves to rot in hell for everything that he has ever done. He fits in at Kaiba Corp perfectly. I haven't seen him in years, and I don't really have any intention of seeing him now." She glared at Isis. "I can tell where you're going with this. I know what you're thinking. And the answer is no. If it's really so important for us to spend time with our yamis, then we'll find some other way to do it. But I am not infiltrating Central Academy!"

"You couldn't do it that anyway," Yuugi pointed out. "You're a girl."

"There are ways to cover that up," Isis said before Malik could respond. "If you wanted to - you could disguise yourselves as boys."

The idea was ludicrous. It was only good manners that stopped Yuugi from saying that. Jou, however, had no such problem. "That's crazy," Jou said, sitting back and folding her arms. "First of all, do you really expect me to believe that someone like Kaiba Seto could be my soul mate? There's no way that jackass could ever be anything to me except for a punching bag. And second of all, even if Yuugi, Ryou and Malik did believe you and decided to go along with it, they've got tests for that kind of thing. They'd be caught out in no time - and even if they weren't, at some point someone would notice the their marks."

Isis was nodding. "I appreciate all of your concerns, Jou, but this really is the only way. Regardless of whether you're willing to accept it or not, the Tawk has shown me proof that Kaiba Seto is your mate. Furthermore, there is written proof in Kaiba Corp's records that Tenno Yami is the pharaoh and Takahashi Bakura is the thief king, which makes them your yamis." She glanced at Yuugi and Ryou respectively. "We have devised a fool proof method of getting you into the school, and then all you'll need to do is keep your heads down and avoid attracting Hafiz's attention while you spend time with them. Once you feel you've gained their trust, you can tell them the truth about who you are and what you have."

Yuugi's head was spinning. This was a lot to take in all at once. The only thing she could think of to say was, "Who's we?"

"A select group of individuals with an interest in taking Kaiba Corp down, including your grandfather and some members of the Resistance."

"Jii-chan?" Yuugi stared at her grandfather. He'd been silent this whole time, fixating on the table through Jou's outburst. Now he looked up, clearly reluctant to meet her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Yuugi. I've wanted to explain things to you for quite some time now, but I knew it was important that you solve the Puzzle first. You had to prove that you really were the pharaoh's hikari," he said quietly. "I know that this might seem like a frightening idea, but it's for the best. You and the pharaoh could change the whole world."

"I'm not doing it," Malik said flatly. She stood up and stormed out.

"Me either," said Jou. "I refuse to believe that bastard could be my soul mate. There is just no way." She screwed her face up. "And if he was, I'd rather go my whole life without having a duel monster than accept him as part of the deal!" She got up and followed Malik. Ryou paused, clearly uncertain, before she stood up.

"Ryou-chan," Isis said, and Ryou hesitated. "You know that this is the only way."

Ryou's face changed, becoming colder. "Apparently I don't know anything," she said pointedly, glaring at Isis. "And it seems like I have you and your _select group of individuals_ to thank for that." She picked up her purse and Malik's messenger bag and left.

It was kind of nice, Yuugi mused, to see Isis looking so surprised. She cleared her throat, and Isis looked at her. Yuugi said gently, "Isis-san, I appreciate that you've put so much work into trying to take down Kaiba Corp. I know that they don't really want what's best for Domino, and I'm sure the Resistance appreciates everything you're trying to do. But what you're asking of us... it's really a lot, not to mention that it's dangerous. What if we got caught? I know you say we won't, but what if we did?"

"I would never allow that to happen," Isis said firmly. "My Tawk -"

"Forget your Tawk," Yuugi interrupted her, exasperated. Was this what came from having a Millennium Item? Isis was depending so heavily on the visions given to her by the Tawk. It didn't seem like she was thinking rationally about any of this. "Just please try to understand what you're asking us to do."

Isis scowled. "I understand that I'm asking you to help change the world for the better by making a small sacrifice," she said haughtily. "And that you are refusing to do it out of the slight possibility of personal danger. I thought I knew the four of you better than that, but I must have been wrong."

Yuugi winced. Malik had always said that Isis was a master when it came to the guilt trip, and clearly she was right. "It's not like you want us to just keep the Millennium Items safe! You're asking us to go undercover as boys right under the nose of Kaiba Corp. And you're asking Malik to do it under the nose of her father!"

"It's the only way for you to get close to your other halves!" Isis retorted. "I have friends who work for Kaiba Corp, Yuugi. Gozaburo has been getting suspicious about how Seto spends his free time. That's part of the reason he enrolled Seto into Central Academy in the first place, to make sure that Seto has less of it. You really think that Gozaburo doesn't do a background check on anyone who regularly spends time with Seto, Yami or Bakura? At least in a school you will just be one student of many."

Okay, Yuugi thought a little hysterically, Isis should not have been able to make this sound as reasonable as she was. "But what if we get caught?"

"You won't. We have falsified records set up for you, and no one will ever know that you are girls. The day for the standard examination is at least six months away." Isis folded her arms. "As long as you keep your marks hidden until then, it shouldn't be an issue. As for my father, I doubt he ever paid enough attention to Malik to be able to recognize her on a busy street. But there will be extra caution taken with her, don't worry."

It was impossible _not _to worry. What Isis was saying made a weird sort of sense, but Yuugi just wasn't sure she wanted to do something so potentially dangerous. It was one thing to make a quick trip to a Resistance meeting, but it was something else entirely to agree to_ this_. It would mean becoming an entirely different person for god knew how long. It would mean deceiving the man who could possibly be her other half, her partner. It would meant accepting she was the pharaoh's hikari.

"Isis, I think you should go now," said Sugoroku, glancing over at his frozen granddaughter. He could tell that Yuugi had had enough, and he held up a hand when Isis tried to protest. "You've told them what you want them to do, now give them a little space to think about it. Tomorrow we can talk about the plan in more detail, but for now it's time for you to leave."

There was no question that Isis was reluctant to leave, but she seemed to realize that Sugoroku was serious. "Think about what I've said, Yuugi," she said as she walked to the door. "You and your friends could end up changing the world."

"Yuugi?" Sugoroku said once she was gone.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me," Yuugi said quietly.

"I wanted to, Yuugi, but I-"

"It's fine." It wasn't fine. But she could tell that Sugoroku felt guilty, and that was the last thing she wanted. Getting angry with him, especially after he'd asked Isis to leave, wouldn't help. Yuugi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm going to go upstairs. Unless you need some help with the shop?"

Sugoroku watched her for a moment, his eyebrows creased with concern, before he responded. "No, I think I'll be alright. There's not really that much left to do. I've got a little bit of stock left to put out, but it won't take me that long."

"Okay." She stood up and went to the stairs. She didn't say good-night.

* * *

Please review!


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** I don't think any opinions of Isis is going to rise very much over the next few chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Isis Ishtar was not pleased as she left the Mutou house that night. Just before she stepped outside, she reached up and unclasped the Millennium Tawk from around her throat. The clasp came apart reluctantly, like the Item did not want to leave its place, and her neck was left feeling cold as she pulled it away. But there was nothing to be done with it: she could not walk around with the Tawk in plain view unless she wanted to be reported. The outrageous rewards Gozaburo was offering for the Millennium Items would tempt even the kindest of souls.

She slipped the Tawk into a special inside pocket on her robe, then stepped out and let the door fall shut gently behind her. There was no point in trying to talk to Yuugi anymore, but she wondered if she might have more luck approaching Ryou, Malik or Jou. Well, it would probably be best to let Jou calm down a bit first. She didn't want to be on the receiving end of a punch, and she had no doubt that if pushed far enough Jou might actually lose her temper and lash out at her. So that left Ryou and Malik.

Her phone began to ring while she was standing there debating, and she glanced at the screen. With a faint sigh, she brought it to her ear. "You've really got to stop calling me," she said without bothering to offer any kind of a greeting.

"I will keep calling you for as long as I feel it is necessary. Have you convinced them?"

Isis hesitated briefly before responding. "No."

"Time is running out, Isis-san. Central Academy and Central Academia open their doors at the beginning of next month. You've only got five more days."

"I_ know_," Isis said much more sharply than she'd intended. They were cutting it close as it was, and she really didn't have the time to be cajoling a bunch of teenagers into going along with their plan. Not for the first time, she wished that she'd been born as a hikari instead. It would have been much easier. "They have some concerns about what's going to happen, Rishid. That's normal. So far I've been able to counter every argument they put forth, and once one of them agrees it will only be a matter of time until the others do too."

Rishid sighed, one long, angry exhalation that came across the line loud and clear. "This might be our one opportunity."

"No one knows that better than I do," she said, deliberately allowing her voice to soften. She knew Rishid's tragic tale as well as she did her own. She could understand why he was so desperate to make sure that the hikaris ended up at Central Academy. But she also knew that pushing too hard, too fast could easily backfire. "Look, they've met at least once. That's a step in the right direction. Sugoroku is going to talk to Yuugi some more in the morning, and I will talk to Malik."

"What about the other two?"

"I think Ryou will fall in line easily. And Jou..." Isis paused, because she really wasn't sure about Jou. "I don't know. She was adamant that Kaiba Seto was not her soul mate, even though all evidence points to the contrary. Is it really necessary for her to be at Central Academy?"

"Yes," Rishid replied immediately. "You know that it is. The priest's full power cannot be unlocked until he has found his mate. We will need his power for the coming war, Isis-san. He can't even summon his partner monster without her."

She'd known that, too. She'd just been hoping that something had changed in the past few minutes. "Okay. I'll what I can to talk Jou into changing her mind."

"_Quickly_. They'll attract too much attention if they start late at the Academy, and -"

"Yes, yes, as soon as possible." She hit the disconnect button before he could say anything else and stood there for a moment, fuming down at her phone. Rishid could be a perfectly nice man when he wanted to be, but sometimes he really got on her nerves. It was like he thought he was the only person who had a reason to want Kaiba Corp's control over the world to be gone. Didn't he understand that she was doing her best? Did he not care that she had been put into a difficult position?

Muttering something less than polite that she never would have said in front of Malik, Isis put her phone away and turned to go. She stopped short at seeing that her sister was standing less than two feet away, arms folded. Malik didn't back down, either. She just kept standing there with an angry look on her face, staring at Isis. But Isis wasn't going to be intimidated so easily. She stared back calmly, not letting on that Malik's eavesdropping had startled her more than she wanted to admit.

"You know," she said at last, breaking the eerie quiet, "I'm pretty sure you were taught that listening to the conversations of other people is rude."

"Funny, I'm sure you were taught that plotting behind your little sister's back is pretty rude too," Malik countered. "Or at least, I thought you would have learned that lesson after everything that Dad did to us. But maybe I'm wrong, and you're turning out to be just like him in more ways than one."

"Malik!" Isis exclaimed, shocked and horrified. That was the absolute last thing that she wanted to be accused of. The thought of turning out to be anything like Hafiz Ishtar was disgusting.

"Well, what do you expect me to say?" Malik yelled back. "Fuck, Isis, I really can't believe you sometimes. I used to think that there wasn't anything that we didn't tell each other, but now I see that kind of sharing only went one way. There's so much you haven't been telling me. How can you expect me to believe that you're telling me the truth now? Is this really so important? Is it really the only way? Will me and my friends be safe? Do you even _care_?"

"Of course I care!" In two quick steps, Isis had crossed the distance between them and seized Malik by the shoulders. Her sister's eyes widened. "Malik, you are the most important thing in the world to me. Your safety and happiness has always been paramount. But in this case, I just can't win. And do you know why? Because this_ is_ the only way. Short of risking everything by having Seto, Yami, and Bakura sneak out every week, there's no way you can get close enough to spend the kind of time with them necessary to form the bond you're all going to need. It tears me up inside to know that by involving you in this there's a chance you could be hurt. But if it could change the whole world, if we could make the legend come true, how could I be so selfish as to keep you out of it?"

Malik looked dumbfounded. "Nee-chan..."

"I mean, you're my little sister. You're all I have, Malik. Don't ever doubt that I care about you." Isis hugged her impulsively. She was relieved when she felt Malik's arms come up around her in return. "I don't want things to be this way. But I just, I look at the world and the plans we've made and I don't see any other way. The things that the Tawk shows me, they're _awful_. You don't want to know what it will be like if Hafiz and Kaiba Corp stay in power."

For a moment, Malik was too shocked to respond. Finally, she ventured, "But... why didn't you tell me all of this before? Isis, you've always hinted about a plan you had for making sure that Kaiba Corp would get taken down some day. And whenever I asked you about it, you always made it sound like you would tell me when I had to know. I believed you, but I wasn't expecting for everything to be thrown in my face. And not just my face, but that of my friends too. You can't just do that and expect us to fall in line."

"I couldn't tell you, Malik. I wanted to, but it was important that you not know."

"Why?" Malik said, sounding frustrated. "Why was it so important?"

Isis shook her head. "Can't you just take my word for it that in this case, it was best that you didn't know? You remember what I've told you before, don't you? Knowing about the future can be dangerous because it's hard to keep yourself from meddling. That goes double for when it's your own future, or the future of someone you care about."

"So you didn't think I could keep from interfering," Malik said, hurt.

"No. Well, yes, but that's not all of it. I also wanted to protect you. I didn't want you to know too much about the Millennium Items, and I didn't want you to have to worry about what was coming. You're still so young, Malik, and you've gone through so much already. I hate the thought that you never have a proper childhood. It kills me to have to ask you to go anywhere near our father, and if it weren't for the fact that I'm positive he won't recognize you I wouldn't even dream of asking you to do it. You know that, right?"

Malik sighed. "Yes, I do," she said reluctantly, because it was true. She knew her sister would never put her in that much danger. Or at least, she had known that. But now she wasn't so sure.

"Look, I'm sorry I've had to keep so many secrets from you. I'm telling you right now that there will be more in the future." Isis stepped back just far enough so that she could look her sister in her eyes. "But I want you to know that it's not because I enjoy it. I'm doing this because I honestly think it is the best, no, the only way for us to have a future that is worth having. If I could do this myself, I would. But I can't. So Malik, will you do this for me?"

There was a long pause while Malik struggled with her decision, but Isis thought she knew what the answer would be. Malik had never been able to say no to her. That was the sort of close relationship that they had as sisters. She'd practically raised Malik after their mother had died in childbirth. Still, she kept her face composed. She didn't want Malik to think that she was being too over-confident. "Please," she said softly. "Malik, you and your friends could change the whole world and complete yourselves at the same time."

"And if we don't?"

"Then I can't tell you what will happen exactly, but I can tell you that Kaiba Corp will eventually destroy the world."

Malik shivered. "I suppose you also want me to talk the others into going along with it too."

Sensing a crack in Malik's armor, Isis pushed a little harder. "If you wouldn't mind. I know how close you are. They would listen to you."

"Okay," Malik said after another pause. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I cannot believe I am agreeing to this."

"Oh Malik, you won't regret it. I promise." Isis couldn't stop herself from grinning in triumph.

"That's pretty hard to believe," Malik replied, gently pulling away from her sister's grip. She backed up, putting a few feet of distance between them, and folded her arms. It was pretty clear she wanted Isis to keep her distance. "I regret it already."

**AU**

There was sunlight filtering in amongst the dirt on her window when Jou woke up. She rolled over and sighed, rubbing at her eyes. It felt like the night had passed by so slowly that she could hardly believe it was finally morning. Her mind had been spinning, trying to make sense out of what Isis had told them, and she kept thinking about Kaiba Seto. Jou did not take kindly to people who thought they were better than everyone else. She'd had to deal with a lot of that over the course of her life, and because of it she was not shy about standing up for herself. She did not regret punching Seto in his overly smug face. Just the memory of what he'd said and that look on his face, like she was an annoying bug, was enough to make her blood boil all over again.

But she did regret not hanging around long enough to see what would have happened afterwards. Would Seto have apologized? That seemed unlikely, but then again stranger things had happened. More likely, though, he would have come back with an equally caustic remark designed to make her even angrier. Or, if he was the type, he might have thrown a punch right back at her. She knew from experience that some boys didn't mind fighting with girls, especially once they figured out that she could give as good or better than she got. There was nothing Jou hated more than being treated as insignificant or worse, weak just because she was a girl.

For about the hundredth time, Isis's comment about Seto being her soul mate ran through her head. Jou rolled her eyes and sat up, flinging the thin sheet away. Kaiba Seto, her soul mate? Please. The chances of that being true were about a billion to one. And even if it was true, Jou wasn't sure she wanted to do anything about it. It sounded like the makings of a classical love story: rich boy with a bad attitude meets a poor girl with an equally bad attitude and a father who was best left unmentioned, and somehow they find their way to love and a beautiful world. It sounded exactly like the kind of movies that Jou hated and typically refused to go see with Yuugi and Ryou.

"Like that money bags would even be interested in me," she muttered, scrubbing her hands through her short blonde hair. As she dropped her hands back into her lap she paused, staring down at the knuckles of her right hand. There was a faint but impressive bruise that had turned a nice shade of purple, and her whole hand ached when she straightened and flexed her fingers. No doubt Seto was sporting a black eye right about now. The thought should have been enough to make her smile, but instead she found herself thinking about the brief second when her hand had impacted his face.

It had been short. Well, of course it had. Punching usually didn't tend to last for a long time. Fortunately there had been no weird feelings, no burning from her mark. But for that split second when their skin was touching, she thought she had seen something. An image had flashed in front of her eyes, one that she had only seen on a card that she carried in her deck. She'd never told anyone, but she used to dream about someday finding out that this monster was actually her partner.

Jou had seen the Red Eyes Black Dragon.

She closed her eyes now to better remember the majestic creature and how _real_ it had looked. The instant connection between them lingered even now, like meeting someone for the first time and thinking, "oh there you are, what took you so long?" And then, all too quickly, the dragon had been gone when Seto fell backwards out of range. She'd been left standing there like a moron, too choked up from anger and confusion to do anything but run away. Cowardly, perhaps, but better (and far more legal) than hitting Seto again to see if the same thing would happen a second time.

She was still sitting there with her eyes shut when she heard someone knocking on the door. Knowing it could only be one of three people - it wasn't like her father or any of his dumbass friends would ever bother to knock - she didn't bother to get dressed. She left her room, noting that her father hadn't made it home last night - not surprising, considering he'd been paid the day before - and went out into the living room. She opened the door and looked into Malik's face.

And then she slammed it shut.

"Jou!" Malik started banging right away. "Come on, let me in. It won't be that bad."

"Go away!" Jou shouted, taking refuge in the kitchen. Of course, that didn't work. Malik was too stubborn for that, damn her, and Jou hadn't locked the door. Malik opened it up less than thirty seconds later and walked right in. Before she could speak, Jou said, "You better not be here to convince me to take part in your sister's insanity. Because if you are, the door is right there and you can see yourself out."

"Look, I'm not pleased about it either. But I believe Isis when she says that this is for the best," Malik replied.

"She's your sister. You _have_ to believe her."

"Um no, actually I don't. Do you believe everything Shizuka says?"

Jou frowned. There was a time when she would have said yes, but that was before she'd run into her baby sister at a Resistance meeting. "That's different. Shizuka isn't trying to get me killed."

"Neither is Isis. Jou, at least hear what she has to say."

"Why should I?"

"Because you're the one who's always talking about wanting to make a difference," Malik snapped. "You're the one who forced us to go to a Resistance meeting because you were desperate to find some way to stick it to Kaiba Corp. And you're the one who -"

"Alright, okay, I get it." Jou held a hand up. Malik wasn't going to give in on this, she could tell, and as much as Jou hated the thought of having any part in this she hated the idea of disappointing her friends even more. "Fine, I'll listen to Isis. But I'm not making any promises. I reserve the right to bail out of this whole ridiculous idea if it starts sounding even a little crazy."

Malik gave her a soft, strangely shy smile. "Thank you."

"Yeah, whatever," Jou muttered, embarrassed, and went to get dressed.

* * *

Please review!


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Thank you so much for the reviews, guys. I hope you continue to enjoy.

* * *

Ryou was still in bed, though she had been awake for quite a while, when she heard the soft knock on her door, followed by the sound of it opening. She could tell right away that it wasn't Osamu - he had a _thing _about going into her bedroom even if he was invited - so she pulled the covers down and checked to see who had entered. As she expected it was Yuugi, wearing a slightly sheepish smile as she crossed the space between them and sat down on the bed. She stretched out next to Ryou, who rolled onto her back, and both of them stared at the ceiling for a few minutes.

"I know why you're here," Ryou said eventually.

"I'd expect no less."

"I suppose you spent the morning talking to your grandfather," Ryou went on, ignoring the fact that her friend had even spoken. "And I bet he gave you a whole list of reasons why we should go along with this weird plan, didn't he? Well, I'm telling you right now that I'm not convinced yet, Yuugi. This seems like a _really_ bad idea. I know you want to go to Central Academy, but I don't think it's worth putting your life at risk to do it. Central Academia won't be that bad."

"You're right," Yuugi said, surprising Ryou into look over at her. "I've already thought about all of that, believe me, and if you can believe him so has Jii-chan. As much as I want to go to Central Academy, I don't think that's a good enough reason to pretend to be a guy and put myself right under Kaiba Corp's scrutiny."

"But you've got other reasons," Ryou mumbled, reading between the lines of what had been unsaid. "Go on, then. Let's hear it."

"I've never really believed in the legend, Ryou. You know that. But whether I do or not, I'm the only person who has ever been able to solve the Millennium Puzzle. And I feel like that gives me a sense of responsibility towards it." Yuugi wrinkled her nose. "I'm still not sure about the whole hikari and yami thing, but I _do_ think that Yami is the pharaoh. He deserves to have the Millennium Puzzle even if I'm not the hikari. I'd like to have the chance to give it to him, and if I don't do this I'm not sure that I will."

That caught Ryou's attention. Intrigued, she stared at her friend. "You'd do that? You would be willing to give the Puzzle up?"

"I don't want to," Yuugi admitted. "It hasn't been more than five feet away from me since I solved it, and the thought of giving it up to someone else makes my chest hurt. So I guess I should say that I want the chance to talk to Yami and see what he thinks about all this, to see if he reacts to the Puzzle or me in some way." She touched her wrist. "I'd like to know if our marks really do match, for one thing."

"And you think you could trust him?"

"I'd have to meet him and spend time with him to know that. But the fact that we saw him at a Resistance meeting gives me hope that maybe he's not as loyal to Kaiba Corp as Gozaburo wants to think."

"I guess." Ryou sighed. Everything that Yuugi was saying made a lot of sense. Too much sense. She had to admit that, as dangerous and crazy as it sounded, there was something thrilling about the idea of going undercover at Central Academy. In between periods of sleep, she'd wondered about Bakura and what he was like. Was he a good person? Did he want a hikari? Or would he have preferred that she stay far away?

"You don't have to," Yuugi said after a couple of minutes. "I mean, if you don't want to do this I understand. No one is going to force you to. That's what Jii-chan told me. They can't make us."

"But they could take the Ring away." She didn't even bother to phrase it as a question. She'd seen the look in Isis's eyes while they were talking around the table last night. It was a look of pure determination. Isis wasn't going to let anyone stand in her way. She had a plan to take down Kaiba Corp, and they were going to go through with it regardless of whether Ryou wanted to participate.

Yuugi let out a slow breath. "Well, technically I think it belongs to you... but yes, they probably would try. Even though it wouldn't do them any good. I don't think Bakura could use the Ring on his own. It's too strong. He needs you."

Something tightened in Ryou's chest at those words. Bakura needed _her_. Not someone else. Her. Ryou. And it went both ways, of course. She needed Bakura. She closed her eyes. "Do you... ever wonder what it would be like, Yuugi? To have your other half around?"

"I've never really thought about it like that. When I was younger, I used to tell myself that I had a soul mate and that's what the mark was for. I used to get so_ mad _at Jii-chan for making me keep it covered all the time. I know they're supposed to be private anyway, but I always wondered how I would ever find my mate if he didn't let me show it to anyone."

Ryou laughed. "And then you found out what it really meant," she said, sobering slightly.

"Yeah. And now... Last night I thought a lot about Yami and what he might be like. Does he care about the world? Does he support Kaiba Corp? Why would he have helped to start the Resistance? Does he think that girls are weaker than guys? Would he treat me like someone who matters?" Yuugi sighed. "There's just too many questions that I can't answer, and no offence to Isis but I'm not ready to trust what she might say. I feel like I have to find out on my own."

"Even though it could be dangerous?"

"I'm trying not to think about that part," Yuugi said wryly. "Jii-chan promised me, and I believe him, that Isis and whoever else helped to plan this have thought of everything. He said there was no way that they would put us into any danger, and that Kaiba Corp would never catch on."

"I'm not sure I believe that."

"Then you don't have to, Ryou. Like I said, no one can make you do this."

That was true, but Ryou couldn't imagine sitting idly by while her friends did this without her. She wanted to be there with them. "I'll do it," she said, surprising the both of them. "I'll do it, as long as Isis can prove that Kaiba Corp and especially Malik's father won't be able to tell who we are."

"Malik sent me a text this morning. Isis wants us to come over to her apartment so she can explain in more detail," said Yuugi. She sounded amused. "Apparently she went to talk to Jou this morning."

"Oh god," Ryou muttered, imagining how that scenario might have gone. Jou had been extremely upset last night. There was a good chance she had cooled down a little over night, but if Malik wasn't careful she might be on the receiving end of a fight. "I hope she didn't say anything stupid."

"Who, Malik? Perish the thought," Yuugi said, grinning. She sat up and poked Ryou in the shoulder. "Come on, get up. We'll never hear the end of it if we're late."

**AU**

Malik and Isis lived in a very nice two bedroom apartment in downtown Domino City. The building was on the older side, but Isis knew the owner and she got an excellent rate on rent. Yuugi had only been to the apartment a handful of times, because for the most part Malik preferred it if they met at the game shop or at Ryou's. She'd never wanted her friends to spend much time around Isis. Yuugi hadn't understood the reason for that - until now. Even if Malik hadn't known exactly what was coming, she'd had the foresight to know that _something_ was and Yuugi almost wanted to thank her for that, and might have if she could have figured out how to do so without sounding rude. 'Thank you for keeping your sister away from us' didn't sound very polite.

She and Ryou got off of the bus just down the block from the building and walked the rest of the way. Ryou was nervous, she could tell, but then Yuugi couldn't really blame her because she was feeling the same way. She didn't know what to expect, and she was kind of relieved that she and Ryou were arriving together. As they entered the building, she took a deep breath and said, "I really hope this wasn't a stupid idea."

"Well, we won't know until we go up," Ryou said, pushing the button for the elevator. "Remember, we can leave anytime we want to."

"Right," Yuugi said uncertainly, because she was beginning to wonder how true that really was. Every time she remembered how earnestly Sugoroku had looked at her, her stomach twisted into knots. How could she walk away from this when it could mean changing the whole world? Didn't she owe it to everyone to at least try to change things? She had the feeling, though she did not say as much, that she and Ryou were already trapped.

Malik opened the door when Yuugi knocked, and she looked pleased. "You came," she said. "I wasn't sure you would."

"Did you get Jou here?" Yuugi asked, slipping her shoes off.

"Yep," Malik said proudly. "It took some fast talking, but she agreed to come." She pushed the door shut and then locked it. She paused, her expression serious, before adding quietly, "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure that any of us should be here. But I just can't sit here any longer and listen to Isis moan about how close they were to getting rid of Kaiba Corp. I swear she sat right outside my bedroom door all night until I finally gave in at around four and told her I'd listen to what she had to say. Actually, I screamed it."

Yuugi giggled. "Isis was really taking her life into her hands," she kidded. Malik adored sleeping, and she was very protective of what little time she was able to spend doing it.

"Yeah, well, I'm starting to think that Isis has never really minded doing that," Malik said with a strange, half-smile. She led the way into the living room. Jou was sitting there already, along with Isis and another girl that Yuugi was very surprised to see.

"Anzu-chan!" she exclaimed.

"Hi Yuugi-chan," Anzu said shyly. "Hi, Ryou-san."

"Hi Anzu-san," Ryou said.

"What are you doing here?" Yuugi said at the same time. She wasn't trying to be rude - it just slipped out before she could think about how it would sound. She and Anzu had been close in elementary school, but Yuugi hadn't seen her in a while. Just after she turned ten, Anzu had become interested in trying out for some dance school that was located in America. Rehearsing and practicing had taken up most of her time, and even after she hadn't gotten in she hadn't stopped. They'd drifted apart, and Yuugi had found other friends. Last Yuugi had heard, Anzu had finally been accepted to that school.

"I'm here to help you guys, of course," Anzu replied.

"But I thought you were -"

"In America? Yeah, that didn't really work out." Something unpleasant flickered in Anzu's beautiful blue eyes. But then she smiled again, her expression warm. "When Isis told me what she was planning, I knew I had to come help right away. I had no idea that you were going to turn out to be the pharaoh's hikari, Yuugi-chan. Congratulations."

"Um, thanks," Yuugi said awkwardly, shooting a look towards Isis. "You haven't told anyone else about that, right?"

"The only people who know are the ones who need to."

Great. What did that mean? How many people knew - or worse, had known before Yuugi did? It was a struggle not to get angry. Ryou reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze as she said, "Alright, we're all here so let's get started. Isis-san, Malik said there were some things you wanted to tell us and we're here to listen. But I'm telling you right now that if we don't like what you have to say, we're leaving."

"Fair enough," Isis allowed with a faint smile. "But I really don't think that's going to be an issue."

"We'll see about that," Jou muttered. Malik elbowed her.

Isis did an excellent job of pretending that she hadn't heard Jou speak. "Yuugi-chan, I'd like to use you as an example if you don't mind. Just come stand up here. Leave your bag on the couch with Ryou-chan, please, you can't have the Millennium Puzzle with you."

Yuugi froze in the act of standing up. "Wait. Do you mean just for right now or for good?"

"Just for now," came the quick response. Yuugi wasn't sure whether it was reassuring or not that Isis looked alarmed by the question. "From now on, we want the three of you to keep the Millennium Items with you at all times. If for whatever reason you can't, do_ not_ leave them unguarded. This is very important. If those Items fall into Kaiba Corp's hands, it could mean the end of everything."

And yet you want to send us into the lion's den with the items? Yuugi wondered, handing her bag to Jou. She walked over to Isis and stood between her and Anzu. The two women conferred for a moment in lowered tones before Isis nodded. "You can come in now," she called out, glancing back towards the door.

From the kitchen came two duel monsters, both of which Yuugi recognized. Spiria, Isis's partner, and Magician of Faith, Anzu's partner. She hadn't seen either one of them for quite some time. She remained still as a monster came up on either side of her. Their hands, when they were placed on Yuugi's shoulders, were shockingly cold. She shivered and ignored the whispered command from Isis to remain as still as possible. That was a lot easier said than done when it felt like she'd just been dipped into a vat of cold water. She wanted to pull away, but her muscles felt like they had seized up so that she couldn't move even when she was so cold she was starting to shiver.

"That's enough," Anzu said suddenly, and Magician of Fate immediately stepped back. Spiria was slower to release contact, Yuugi noticed, waiting until Isis nodded to pull away.

"Oh my god," Ryou said, sounding shocked.

"What?" Yuugi stopped as soon as she spoke. Was that her voice? It sounded so much _deeper_ than what she was used to. She looked down at herself in disbelief, noting a distinct lack of certain things, and then ran from the room. She'd been in the apartment enough times to know where the bathroom was, and it fortunately contained a full length mirror on the back of the door. Yuugi pushed it shut and stared in shock.

Looking back at her was a young teenage boy wearing the school uniform for Central Academy. His hair was spiked instead of falling around his shoulders, and the gold bangs that Yuugi was forever pushing out of her face were now spiked as well. His eyes weren't quite as round, jaw a little harder, ears not pierced. He was about the same height, but his shoulders were broader and his hips weren't as wide. As she'd already noted, he was lacking breasts and instead had a tell-tale bulge at the juncture of his legs. Yuugi swallowed hard and reached a trembling hand - a very masculine hand - to that spot.

She almost passed out from sheer relief when she felt nothing more than the smooth mound she'd always had. It was just an illusion, then. She verified it by pressing her hands to her chest. She was able to cup her breasts, though in the mirror it looked like she was cupping her hands around nothing. The difference between what she was seeing and what she was feeling was disorienting. She was relieved when the illusion faded away a few seconds later.

"Yuugi?" Malik called, rapping gently at the door.

"I'm okay," Yuugi said, but she took the chance to splash some cold water on her face and take a couple of deep breaths before she opened the door. Malik was waiting for her. She looked about as surprised as Yuugi felt. Yuugi tried to smile as they went back out into the living room, where Isis was wearing a satisfied grin.

"What did you think?" she asked.

"It was very realistic," Yuugi replied carefully. It was the truth.

"Could you do that long term?" Ryou said, turning to look at Isis.

"The illusion would have to be renewed every forty-eight hours," Anzu said. "It might last a little bit longer, but you would be risking yourself at that point. And as you've probably noticed, Yuugi-chan, it _was_ just an illusion. It's harder to fool direct touch than it is eyesight or hearing. You'll have to be cautious about keeping your distance, but in an all boys school that shouldn't be too difficult."

"So," Isis said impatiently, "will you do it?"

There was a pause, and then Malik said quietly, "It really did look real."

"Yeah, it did." Yuugi looked down at her hands. They were the same small, delicate-looking fingers she'd seen all her life. Seeing something else, even for a minute, had been jarring. Could she ever get used to it? But looking up at the smug, confident expression on Isis's face, she was no longer sure that she had a choice. "Alright. I'll do it."

Malik let out a sigh. "Me too."

"And me." Ryou closed her eyes, looking as though her agreement actually pained her.

Jou did not look happy. At all. Yuugi was actually expecting her to refuse. So she was shocked when Jou said grudgingly, "Okay, but I'm not going to be happy about it."

"Marvelous!" Isis actually clapped her hands together. "Then let's get started."

* * *

Please review!


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews! Keep enjoying!

* * *

The symbol of Ra was still there, but it had faded so that it was not quite as noticeable against her skin. Yuugi had a difficult time looking away from her wrist. Out of all the changes that the illusion had created, she couldn't help feeling that this was the biggest one. She let the wrist band slide back down into place and glanced around Malik's living room at the rest of her friends. "This is _so_ weird."

"Tell me about it," Ryou said, looking as uncomfortable as Yuugi felt. "Every time I go to the bathroom, I feel like a pervert. I really don't know how I'm going to get through a full day at school."

It was about an hour before the four of them were due to leave for Central Academy. Their first actual day was tomorrow. They had spent the last couple of days with Isis and Anzu, allowing Spiria and Magician of Faith to practice casting the illusion. Because of that most of the time had been spent as boys, so they _did_ have a little bit of experience, but Yuugi didn't think she would ever get used to seeing a boy staring back at her in the mirror. It was just plain _weird_. Even though she'd given her word that she would do this, she still wasn't sure how she felt about it.

"I think we look cool." Jou was the only one who seemed to be totally at home in the illusion. She was sitting in one of the chairs with a leg propped up on the cushions, idly tapping her fingers against her thigh.

"That's because you don't look very different," said Malik sweetly.

"Hey!"

Yuugi hid a smile. Technically, Malik was right. Out of all of them, Jou was the one who had changed the least. She'd kept her tall, lanky frame. Her breasts had always been small enough that she hardly needed to wear a bra, so the sudden absence of them did not seem overly strange, and her hair was only a few inches shorter and sheared off. Her jaw looked a little more square, and she had some stubble on her chin that had never been there before, and she was actually... handsome. Jou was going to have to be careful about the lack of contact if they ran into any young girls.

Ryou was looking equally amused. "Are you sure we're ready?" she asked, turning her gaze towards Isis. The girl was standing at the door, watching the four of them with a strange little smile on her face. "Don't you think it's strange that all of us don't have partner monsters? Won't they wonder about it?"

Isis shrugged. "I don't see why they would. Mating marks are not_ that_ uncommon, and everyone knows that they are supposed to be a closely guarded secret. As far as I was told, your records at Central Academy will say that you were given the examination and that your very common marks have been recorded. There should be no reason why anyone would question you. If they do, it's just a matter of making sure that everyone is aware you do not want to share your marks. They will assume that your marks are hidden under your clothing. So make sure that no one sees you naked," she added with narrowed eyes.

"Um, I hardly think that's going to be a problem," Yuugi said, knowing that her cheeks had turned pink at the thought. "Out of curiosity, where are our marks supposed to be?"

"Does it matter? Just keep your clothing on and your marks hidden, that's all you need to worry about." Isis straightened up and crossed her arms. "Now, remember that your primary objective is to get close to your other halves. And yes," she added, pinning Jou with a firm look, "that means I want you to spend time with Seto. Even if you don't believe that Seto is your mate right now, he is still the pharaoh's priest and he plays an important part in every vision I've been shown. It would do us a benefit for you to become friends."

Jou subsided, a sulk spreading across her face. "Fine." But the way she was sitting, her arms folded and a sulk on her face, made it clear that she was not thrilled about having to follow that order. If Isis noticed Jou's stubbornness, she clearly chose to believe that it would not be an issue because she gave a satisfied nod and turned away to enter the kitchen. In the silence that followed, Yuugi found herself touching the band on her wrist again.

"You're sure I look different, right?" Malik said suddenly. She ran a hand through her hair. It was cropped shorter than normal, the ends just barely hanging in a bit of a curl, and looked darker. She was taller and huskier, and like the rest of them her face had been transformed in subtle ways, though the change was most dramatic on Malik for obvious reasons.

"He won't know you," Ryou told her comfortingly. "I barely recognize you."

Malik nodded, chewing on her lower lip. She obviously didn't believe Ryou, and Yuugi couldn't blame her. Even though they had given their agreement, she didn't think that any of them were really ready for this. What was she going to say to Yami? He'd looked like the kind of guy who only hung out with the popular kids. No doubt he spent most of his time with Seto and Bakura. What interest could he possibly have in someone like Yuugi? How was she supposed to get him to be friends with her?

Every passing minute filled her with more doubt that this was going to work. Maybe she should just fall back on her original plan of handing the Millennium Puzzle over to Yami and hoping that he'd know what to do with it. But then, that would mean giving the Puzzle up - and she was no longer certain she would be able to do that. The past few days had taught her that she grew nervous as soon as the Puzzle was out of her sight. Her preferred place to have it was around her neck, where it was always readily accessible. She didn't even like having it in her bag, because she felt like she constantly had to check and make sure it was still there.

It was a huge mess, she thought, and all four of them were getting swept away in it. She just hoped that this whole experience didn't turn out to be for the worse. Because in spite of everything, much as she hated to admit it, there was a small part of her that was thrilled this was happening. Yuugi had been waiting all her life for the chance to go to Central Academy. From the time when she was young, she'd dreamed about what the school might like. But her dreams had always been tainted with the knowledge that she would never get the opportunity just because she was a girl. And now she was. It was surreal.

The sound of a knock on the door stirred her from her thoughts, and she looked up just in time to see her grandfather walk into the room. Yuugi stood up automatically and watched the astonishment cross his face as he took in her male form. She gave him an unsteady smile and took him by the hand, leading him silently from the room. Malik's room was just down the hall, and Yuugi closed the door behind him so that they could speak in private. There were some things Isis did not need to know.

"Yuugi, you look..." Sugoroku trailed off and shook his head. He couldn't seem to stop looking at her. "My god. I mean, some part of me always wondered what you would have looked like as a boy. I just never thought I'd have the opportunity to see it."

"Neither did I," Yuugi said honestly, unable to keep from smiling when he jolted at the sound of her more masculine voice.

Sugoroku nodded, impressed. "Not bad. You could actually pass for a young man, albeit one whose voice hasn't changed yet. You'll have to beat the girls away with a stick." He smiled playfully, but she couldn't bring herself to return it. He sobered and stepped closer, reaching out and bringing her close for a warm hug. Yuugi clung to him, and he whispered, "I know you're nervous, sweetheart, and if you really don't want to do this I won't make you. You can drop out right now and we'll go home and forget this ever happened."

"What about the Puzzle?" Yuugi asked, because like it or not she didn't think she could leave it behind. His silence spoke volumes, and she sighed. "I can't, Jii-chan. And not just because of that. I don't really care about Isis, but I told Ryou, Jou and Malik that I was going to do this. I can't back out on them now."

"You've grown up to be such a wonderful person, Yuugi." Sugoroku kissed her on the forehead. His eyes were bright with tears. "I only wish that your mother and father could see you. They would be so proud to know that you're committed to trying to change the world."

Is that the only reason they would be proud of me? Yuugi wanted to ask, but she bit the question back. The past few days had taught her a lot about not asking questions that she didn't really want the answer to. "I wish they were here," was what she said instead.

"So do I," he murmured. Yuugi's parents had died in a car crash when she was just a child. She was about seven years old at the time, just old enough to understand that her parents were never coming back. They had already been living with Sugoroku at the time, so he had raised her in their place. But he had never been able to take the place of her mother and father, though to be fair that had never been his intent.

"You used to tell me that they were always watching over me," Yuugi remembered. Her memories of her parents were fragmented, and sometimes she wasn't sure if she actually remembered certain things or if she just missed them so much that she was imagining things. But that moment stood out perfectly: she'd been crying in her bedroom a couple of weeks after the funeral, and Sugoroku had entered and given her two very special duel monsters cards. He'd told her to keep them with her, and said that as long as she did her parents would always be with her. She took them out now, tracing the familiar, worn edges.

"Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl," Sugoroku said, his weathered face creasing into a fond smile. "I always wondered if you had listened to me." He touched the tip of his finger to the Dark Magician card and sighed. "They _are _with you, Yuugi. Maybe... Maybe even more than you realize."

There was something odd about the way he said that. It piqued Yuugi's interest, and she lifted her head to stare at him quizzically. "Jii-chan?"

He was avoiding her gaze. Instead, he stared down at the cards. "Yuugi, I never really wanted to have to tell you this. Not because you didn't deserve to know, but because I truly had - _have _no idea how to go about doing so. Part of me thinks that I should have told you when you were a child, but you were so young. I didn't know if you would understand. And every year I've thought about sitting you down and explaining, but I always had an excuse about why it should be put off a little longer. And now you're about to head right into the middle of things, and I realize that I've put it off for too long."

Yuugi's frown grew deeper. He was talking in circles, which meant there was something that he really didn't want to tell her. "Jii-chan, is there something wrong? Whatever it is, you can tell me. I honestly can't think of anything that would be worse than what we've already -"

"Your parents might be alive," he blurted out.

She froze. "What?"

Sugoroku was looking at her in earnest now. "There is a possibility that your parents might be alive," he repeated, his hands tightening around hers. "That car crash - the bodies of your parents were never found. I suspect that you're too young to remember, but that's why we chose to have a closed casket funeral. There was nothing to show."

A vague memory came to Yuugi: a room with two caskets, each with a picture of her mom and dad on top. "I -" she said, dazed. "I had no idea."

"You weren't meant to. The police said that there was no way they had survived, that the bodies had just been destroyed in the explosion." Sugoroku sighed. "I never believed them. Your parents were so talented at magic, Yuugi. There's no way that they would have been brought down by something as silly as a car crash. Maybe when they were younger, but by that point they had you."

"What difference would that make?"

"You were - are - the most important thing in the world to them," Sugoroku said gently. "It was their duty in life to protect you, sweetheart."

Yuugi closed her eyes and shook her head. She felt dizzy. "I don't understand."

"I know you don't. I..." He trailed off, his weathered face creasing in concern. "I think I've told you enough for today."

That meant there was more that she hadn't been told. Yuugi wanted to press for more details, but she wasn't sure that she would be able to handle hearing them right now. Just hearing that her parents might be alive had completely rocked her world. She didn't know what to think or feel. She'd always missed them, of course, but she had made her peace with their deaths a long time ago. And now she was hearing that there was a chance they were still alive after all... it was shocking.

"Why...?" she asked, lifting her head to meet his eyes. "Why are you telling me this now, when I'm about to go undercover at Central Academy?" She tried, probably unsuccessfully, to keep the anger out of her voice. She needed her head to be clear, and now this was all she would be able to think about. The timing couldn't have been worse as far as she was concerned.

He took a deep breath. "Because if your parents are alive, then I think - no, I know that they're being kept by Kaiba Corp."

Yuugi's mouth dropped open. Literally. She was pretty sure Sugoroku could have counted all of her bottom teeth if he'd wanted to. "What - that's - you - _what_?" was pretty much all she was able to get out.

"Kaiba Corp is dangerous, you've always known that. They will stop at nothing to succeed, and if that means they have to get rid of the opposition they will," Sugoroku told her. He kept his voice low. "Your parents supported the Resistance, Yuugi, long before Kaiba Seto ever began setting up his little meetings. They were loyal to the pharaoh and everything that he and you stand for. I wouldn't put it past Kaiba Gozaburo to have had your parents locked away where they can't do anything to help. And if he or anyone else recognizes you as their daughter, it will put you in even more danger - even if they don't know that you're a hikari. You _must_ be very careful not to let anyone know your real name unless you trust them with your life."

"I..." Yuugi trailed off, too shocked to be able to come up with a reasonable response to that. "But Isis said that the whole point of this is to eventually tell our yamis the truth..."

"I know, and that's okay. The pharaoh is the other half of you, and as I said your parents were loyal to him above all else. They would be alright with that," Sugoroku said confidently. "But it's important to make sure that he can be trusted before you do. There is a chance that he has been compromised by Kaiba Corp in some way. You don't want to know the kinds of things they would do to make people obey."

And Yuugi thought, fleetingly, about what Shizuka had said at the meeting: that the rumor was that Kaiba Corp had something on Seto to make the man do whatever they wanted. A cold knot formed in the pit of her stomach, and she swallowed against a feeling of nausea. "Alright," she said, taking care not to let her voice shake. She was terrified now, even more than she'd been before, about what they were going to do. "I'll be careful, Jii-chan, and I won't tell anyone anything until I think it's okay."

His face cleared, and he gave her a brilliant smile. "That's my girl," he said, before pausing. "Or, well, my boy I suppose. I'll have to get used to calling you that." He chuckled weakly. "Look, I didn't come here with the intention of scaring you, Yuugi. I just know it will be a little while before we can see each other again, and I wanted to tell you this in person."

"I'm glad you did," she lied, because even though it was important to know this sort of stuff she really wished that he hadn't said anything. She stepped closer and made herself lean over and kiss his cheek. "Good-bye."

He clutched her close for just a moment, his breathing growing slightly ragged. "For god's sake be safe," he whispered. "I couldn't bear it if I lost you too."

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Please review!


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** I'm so pleased that you guys are enjoying this story so much, really. Enjoy!

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c

Central Academy was located on the outskirts of Tokyo, making it about a three hour drive from Domino. Once all of their bags had been packed into the trunk, Yuugi got into the driver's seat of the car. All four of them had their licenses, but she'd learned the hard way what it meant to be getting in a car with Jou or Malik behind the wheel. It usually didn't end well. Isis had told her that while this car was technically for all of them to share while they were at the school, she was hoping that Yuugi or Ryou would be doing most of the driving. Yuugi had taken the hint - and the keys.

It was a long drive made longer because all of them were quiet, lost in thought about what they were about to be doing. For Yuugi, it ended far too soon. Her stomach churned with nerves as she slowed, glancing at the sign that told her to turn left for Central Academy. "Last chance to back out," she said with forced attempt at being light-hearted, easing up on the accelerator. The car coasted to a stop, and all four of them looked through the front window at the school just visible in the distance. It looked enormous and very, very daunting.

"I'd take you up on that," said Jou, leaning heavily against the back of Yuugi's seat, "except I have the feeling that if I tried to get out of the car you'd stop me."

"Yes we would," Ryou said mildly, with just enough of a threat that Jou took her hand off of the door handle.

Yuugi smiled in spite of herself and swung the steering wheel to the left. They drove up to the main gate of the school, where there was a guardhouse. She stopped just in front of the gate as the door swung open and a heavy man stepped out. He was wearing a simple blue uniform and had blond hair that was partially covered by a red, white and blue bandana, and he was wearing dark sunglasses even though the day was cloudy and overcast. A duel monster followed him: it was some kind of a machine monster, roughly the same height as the man, with blue and gold armor and red wire holding it all together, clutching a wicked looking sword. She shrank back slightly as they both approached.

The man knocked on the window and waited for her to roll it down. "Are you headed for Central Academy?" he asked. Though his accent was definitely American, he spoke flawless Japanese.

"Yes. We're new students," Yuugi said.

He held up a small black tablet that had the familiar Kaiba Corp logo on the back. "Names?" he asked, and Yuugi told him. His fingers danced over the screen for a long moment before he lowered the tablet and leaned forward, peering into the car and leaving Yuugi feeling a bit like a mouse caught in a trap. He looked at Malik, Ryou and Jou for about thirty seconds each before he straightened up and nodded. "Wait here."

"Oh my god," Malik muttered as he turned around and walked back into the guardhouse. When Yuugi glanced at her, she saw the Malik looked completely spooked. "That was - are they_ all_ going to be like that? Because if they are, I'm out of here. No way am I attending a school filled with the creepiest mother-fu -" Ryou reached forward and clapped a hand over Malik's mouth, neatly cutting off the rest of her sentence as the guard came out carrying what looked like four strings.

"Put these on," he ordered, passing the strings to Yuugi. On closer inspection, she saw that each string had a small yellow metal section about three inches long right in the middle. He then handed her a small yellow circle that was sticky on one side. "Put that circle on your car window so it doesn't get towed. The necklaces will give you clearance to the school, and will tell any instructor that you come across exactly who you are and where you belong. Getting caught without means you get to spend time with me." His expression was somewhere between a leer and a smirk. "So don't go anywhere you're not allowed to."

"Right," Yuugi said, willing her voice not to give away how disgusted she was, and rolled her window up as quickly as she could. She was only too happy to leave the guard standing in their dust.

"That was disturbing," Ryou said after a long moment, finally letting Malik go. Fortunately Malik seemed to be too wound up to be able to make anything other than stuttering, outraged sounds in between half-hearted threats about what she was going to do the next time she saw her sister.

"That's one way to put it," Jou muttered, turning her string over and over in her hands. "What did he mean, don't go anywhere we're not allowed to? How are we supposed to know?"

"Didn't you read the material we were given?" Ryou said, and when she only got three blank looks in return she sighed in exasperation. "Central Academy students are sorted by color. We're only just starting out and they don't know anything about our skill level, so we were given yellow." She held up the string and pointed to the yellow piece. "This is where everyone starts, but depending on how well you do at the school you can move up or down. The highest ranked group is purple, but most people don't get that high. You have to be, like, really awesome at dueling and at school to get purple."

"I bet Yuugi will get purple," Malik said.

Yuugi flushed slightly but didn't argue. "What else, Ryou?"

"The guard was right. We're supposed to wear these all the time. This little metal piece acts like an ID card. They're called ports. All of the instructors carry special tablets that can scan the ports, so that's how they can find out who we are at any time. As far as knowing where we're allowed to go, every door is supposed to have a complicated electronic lock that can only be bypassed with one of these ports. Each lock will have certain colors on it that indicate who's allowed entrance. So if a lock only has a purple and blue stripe on it, scanning your yellow port isn't going to make any difference. It won't get you anywhere."

"I wonder if that's really true," Malik mused with a wicked smile. "I bet that if I had enough time alone with one of those locks, I could figure out how to get past them."

"Malik, the whole idea is to _avoid_ attention," Yuugi pointed out, draping the string around her neck with her free hand. The ends fused together seamlessly as soon as they touched, leaving her with an unbroken length of string that didn't seem to have an ending. It was creepy, but neat at the same time. It was just long enough that she could get it over her head without too much of a fight.

"I'm just saying."

"I wonder what color your yamis are," Jou said suddenly.

"I don't know, but I bet that Seto is a purple," Ryou said.

Jou scowled. "Why would I care what color that idiot is?"

Ryou, Yuugi and Malik all exchanged a long look. It was Yuugi, looking into the rearview mirror, who finally said, "Jou, you know that you're supposed to be getting close to Seto. I'm not saying that you have to agree with the fact that Isis says he's your mate. But he is the pharaoh's priest, and that means he's going to be a powerful ally. Not only that, but he must know just about everything there is to know about Kaiba Corp and Gozaburo. I don't know about you, but I would much rather have someone like that on my side just in case. Wouldn't you?"

Faced with logic like that, Jou couldn't really argue, and her expression grew even sulkier because of it. "But he's such a jerk," she whined.

"Suck it up, buttercup," Malik said as Yuugi turned into the school's parking lot. She drove around for a moment before she found the spots with yellow lines. The parking lot looked a little like a rainbow, and it didn't escape anyone's notice that the yellow lines were the furthest away from anything. Apparently, Yuugi thought, Central Academy took the whole idea of starting from the bottom seriously.

Each of them had only packed one bag, since Isis had explained that the school would provide most of the basic necessities for students who had to board, including uniforms. Yuugi grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, waiting for her friends to do the same before she locked the car. "Where to first?"

"That's the Admin building," said Ryou, pointing to the closest building. "I studied the map of the grounds before I fell asleep last night."

"Best first place to start," Jou muttered, shoving her hands into her pockets. She led the way to the building and held her port out to the lock, which was decorated with a solid stripe of red, yellow, green, blue and purple. The door clicked open, but although Jou caught it and pulled it open she didn't enter right away. "Hey Ryou, I thought that you said yellow was the lowest standing? How come red is last on this?"

Ryou looked at the lock and frowned. "I'm not sure. The stuff I read didn't say anything about a red group."

"We'll probably find out later," Malik said. "Come on, you guys, I'm getting hungry. Stop stalling, Jou, and go in already."

"I'm not stalling!" Jou protested, but she did finally enter the building. Her friends filed in behind her, and they all looked around. There wasn't much to see. There was a door to the left with another lock, but no stripes of color. A long counter had been installed right beside that door, with thick glass that separated them from the woman standing on the other side.

"Hello," she said, raising an eyebrow at the sight of the four of them. "Welcome to Central Academy. My name is Ms. Chono. Please approach the counter and scan your ports." She pointed to what looked like a little metal slot in the glass. Jou walked over first and, when Ms. Chono just looked at her, raised her port so that it was on level with the metal slot. There was a soft, high-pitched humming sound and then the slot flashed yellow. Ms. Chono glanced at her screen. "Sasaki Shingo?"

"That's right," Jou said with a nod.

"Good." Ms. Chono typed a few things into her computer. "Next."

One by one, Yuugi, Ryou and Malik came up to the metal slot and let their ports be scanned. When they were finished, and the slot had turned yellow each time, Ms. Chono printed off some information and passed each of them a file through the thin opening in the glass. Yuugi opened her file, curious, and noticed that on the top was a map of the grounds. Each building was clearly indicated with a color scheme. Beneath the map, there was a thick rule book and some other stuff she knew she'd have to investigate further when she had more time.

"You two," she indicated Yuugi and Malik, "will be staying in building Y-A. And you two are in Y-B. You'll find your dorm numbers and other relevant information on the back of your map." She folded her hands and gave them a stern glare. "We do not tolerate fighting amongst dorm-mates. If it's absolutely necessary, you can take any issues up with your dorm advisor. But I don't advise you to go to them with petty things."

Yuugi glanced at Ryou, and their eyes met. Both girls were thinking the same thing. Life at Central Academy was already looking like it was going to be an awful lot about keeping your head down and trying not to attract attention. And fortunately, both of them had had plenty of practice with that at their old school. But Malik and Jou weren't the sort of people who could take anything lying down. Jou was forever getting into physical fights, and Malik - if she wasn't involved in the fight too - was usually right there egging her on.

"Classes start tomorrow at 8:30am sharp. If you're late, you'll be punished at the discretion of your instructor. Classes finish by 3:30pm, you'll find your schedules in your files. Meal times are from 7:00am until 8:00am, 12:00pm until 1:00pm, and 6:00pm until 7:00pm. That includes weekends. The cafeteria is closed between meals, but the snack bar is open. You can't use credits at the snack bar, and if you miss a meal and have no money that's your problem. If you've got a car, you're allowed off campus on weekends provided you don't have any extra classes scheduled and you're back by 10:00pm. You're dismissed." Ms. Chono turned back to her computer and started typing again, completely disregarding the fact that they were still standing there staring at her.

After a moment, Malik blinked and shook her head. "Um, okay. Thank you. I guess." She took Ryou's arm and tugged her along as she turned and walked out of the room. Yuugi and Jou followed more slowly. As soon as they were outside, Malik said, "I changed my mind. If everyone's as ridiculous as that woman was, I won't have to worry about anyone recognizing me."

"No kidding," Jou muttered. "I'm pretty sure I missed at least half of what she said because she was going so fast. But do we really only get an hour to eat?" She sounded genuinely pained at the idea.

"Don't worry, Jou. I'm sure the snack bar can't be that expensive," Yuugi said, giving her a pat on the back. "If it gets too bad, we'll just have to call Isis up and tell her that we need some money. Since she's the whole reason we're here, she and her group will just have to make up the difference."

"Yuugi..." Ryou stared at her in surprise. "I've never heard you say something like that before."

"Yeah, well..." Whatever Yuugi was going to say never got the chance to come out. She stopped walking suddenly, her eyes widening. She was staring at the parking lot, specifically the blue section where none other than Tenno Yami had just driven in. As they watched, he got out of the car and walked around to the trunk to open it up.

"Oh my god. You should go talk to him," Malik said.

"What? No!"

"He's all alone, Yuugi. You might not get a better chance than this!"

"Malik has a point," Ryou said apologetically.

"Traitor," Yuugi muttered, her stomach twisting. She hadn't thought that she would see Yami again this soon. There hadn't been enough time for her to think of things to talk to him about. "I wouldn't even know what to say to him."

"Say anything. Tell him that you're lost. Whatever it takes. It will be easy." Malik gave her a gentle shove. "Good luck. We'll meet you at the dorms later on and you can tell us how it went."

Yuugi just glared at her in lieu of a response. It was no problem for Malik to be so cheerful about it, but Yuugi couldn't wait until they found Malik's yami - at least then they would see just how "easy" it really was! She hiked her bag higher on her shoulder and started walking slowly towards the parking lot. Yami was still bent over his car, fiddling with something inside of his trunk. As she got closer, she realized that he was stuffing clothing into a bag. It looked like he was having a hard time making it all fit.

"Need some help?" she asked shyly.

He jumped, narrowly avoiding banging his head against the top, and spun around to face her. Yuugi stared back at him with wide eyes. This was only the second time she'd been close to him, and somehow in that brief span of time she had managed to forget how attractive he was. He was tanned and muscled and - she swallowed hard and added, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just - it looked like you were having a rough time, that's all."

"Oh," he said, and then, "Yeah, one of my stupid friends didn't really want to come here. So instead of packing, mature dumbass that he is, he just dumped all of his clothes in my trunk."

"You should make him live out of your car, then," Yuugi said.

Yami swept the back of his arm across his forehead and grinned. "Yeah, I should, except I'd come out one day and find the whole thing missing. Bakura knows how to hotwire cars, unfortunately." He turned back to the bag, having apparently decided that she was trustworthy, and said, "Can you push down on this end while I zip it shut?"

"Sure." She set her own bag down on the ground and joined him, pushing on the pile of clothing with all of her strength. It was still a struggle for Yami to get it shut, but eventually the straining bag was closed. "That's a lot of clothing for one person. I thought we were supposed to wear uniforms most of the time."

"We are," Yami said easily, grabbing the bag and slamming the trunk down. "But Bakura doesn't really want to be here, so... I consider it something of a miracle that he even agreed to come. Asking him to wear the uniform all the time would be pushing it." He glanced at her port. "Do you know where the yellow dorms are? I can take you there if you want; they're on my way."

Yami's port was blue, Yuugi realized with a flash of dismay, even though he was supposedly just starting at the school too. He must have been really good to start out that high. It looked like she was going to have some work to do if she wanted to be in the same class that he was. "Sure," she said, deciding that, even though she already had a general idea of where the dorm was, any extra time with him would be a good thing. "That would be great."

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**A/N:** Little bit of a fun fact... Ms. Chono was an actual Yu-Gi-Oh character who appeared in the early manga and in episode 10 of season zero.

Please review!


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** I hope that this chapter and the whole idea of how dueling works is clear. More detail will be added later as Yuugi and the others see more of them, but I'm basing it around the Virtual World arc's idea of having a deck master (which would be the duelist's partner monster). Enjoy!

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The whole idea of _settling in_ at Central Academy was a lot easier said than done. Ryou hadn't admitted as much to her friends, but she had some private concerns about how she would do at the school. Namely, the fact that Yuugi and Jou were a hundred times better at dueling than she was. Even Malik was better, though that wasn't really saying a whole lot. To be perfectly honest, Ryou was pretty sure that she sucked at it. Her friends were just too polite to say as much to her face. That did little to change the fact that Bakura was in green, a whole level above where she was, and Ryou didn't think she was going to be joining him up there anytime soon.

"Look at it this way, Ryou," Malik said, bouncing lightly on Ryou's bed. They were due at their first class in ten minutes. Yuugi had gone to make sure that Jou was up and awake. Naturally, once she was paying attention and realized something was wrong, it had taken Malik all of two minutes to weasel the truth out of Ryou about what was bothering her. "At least you know who your yami is. I don't even know the name of mine. You have it a lot easier, trust me."

"That's easy for you to say," Ryou muttered, because then there was the _other_ part of the problem. Malik was charismatic. People gravitated towards her (not that they stayed once they knew what she was like, but still). And besides, her yami had already sought out contact with her. Then there was Yuugi, who was sweet and naturally friendly, and Jou, who was a protector and confident enough that she could approach anyone. Ryou was just... Ryou. She had no particular skills that would cause people to want to be her friend. There was certainly no reason for Bakura to be interested in her.

"Oh, come on. Stop being so nervous. I promise you that it will all be fine." Malik jumped up and gave her a light clap on the shoulders. "As long as you remember to keep your shirt on."

Ryou blushed at the thought of taking it off. Illusion or not, there was no way she was going to be naked from the waist up in front of anyone - especially considering that, while pretending to be a boy, she couldn't wear a bra. Malik gave her a smirk like she knew exactly what Ryou was thinking and walked over to the door. One of the few saving graces about Central Academy was that each student had their own, if small, bedroom. The bathrooms, on the other hand, were communal. Ryou didn't think she was going to be showering much.

Once they'd caught up to Yuugi and a sleepy-looking Jou, the four of them headed out to their first class. It was taking place on one of several fields, the water field, to give them a taste of what it would be like to be able to really duel. Central Academy had the best of the best, of course, and each field was amazing in how realistic it looked. The water field was comprised of an enormous pool of salt water with two small islands spaced about twenty feet apart, ten feet from the shore. Each duelist had to be taken out to the island on a boat. It would be difficult terrain for anyone who couldn't summon a water or flying monster.

One glance at Yuugi told Ryou that the girl was already thinking about what it would be like to duel in such a cool place. It hurt to think that Yuugi wouldn't get the chance, might never get the chance, and all because she couldn't summon anything without her yami. It was incredibly unfair. Yuugi could beat anyone when they dueled using holograms or the cards, but she'd be at a serious disadvantage if they stayed here for much longer than a month or so. Central Academy was serious about training their duelists, and it was widely recognized that their preferred method was fighting with real, summoned monsters.

It was so unfair, Ryou thought angrily, that the four of them had been born without partner monsters. She didn't understand why both yamis and hikaris seemed to be lacking the one thing that made nearly everyone else in the world feel like they weren't alone. Most people just thought that they were waiting to find soul mates, and Ryou would have preferred it that way. Because having a soul mate meant that you also had a partner monster, you just couldn't summon it without your mate because the two monsters needed to be summoned at the same time. As a hikari, she didn't even know if she had a partner monster. This was unexplored territory and no one else had written the book yet.

An elbow jabbed her in the ribs, breaking her out of her thoughts. Ryou looked up, startled, to see that their professor had arrived without her notice. It was a large, muscled man wearing only a pair of swim trunks. He had wild hair and a big, friendly grin. "Good morning class!" he boomed loudly, waving a spear at them. "My name is Mako, and I will be your teacher when it comes to survival. I can see that some of you are wearing confused looks, well. Let me tell you right now that being here at Central Academy is not all about fighting. You need to be able to know how to keep yourselves and your partner monster fed, alive and sheltered. If you make the trek out to a field in the middle of nowhere and lose your supplies, where would you be without the proper skills to back yourself up?"

He stuck the spear into the sand and folded his massive arms. "Now, to give you a general idea of how the next four years of your life will run, you'll have class with me every morning. You'll be schooled in dueling, but you will not be starting off with real monsters." He chuckled when some students groaned loudly in protest. "Yes, I know. But we have to train your magic before you can summon, or you run the risk of burning yourself out. Along with survival, you'll be learning about strategy, dueling tactics, the different kinds of monsters, how they work with magic and trap cards... Not to mention a healthy dose of the boring, real world stuff that will help you get the good jobs." He wiggled his eyebrows.

One of the students raised his hand, and when Mako pointed to him he asked, "When do we get to decide on electives?"

Mako laughed. "Not for quite a while, my young friend. Your first two years at Central Academy will be spent giving you a taste of everything. You might decide that you want to be a Healer for monsters. Or you might decide you want to work on learning more about flying monsters. But you won't be able to decide unless you've experienced a variety of different things. That's the whole reason you're here."

"I'm here because I want a job at Kaiba Corp," one of the boys standing beside Ryou muttered. Mako didn't seem to hear him.

"But the first thing we're going to do is show you a real life duel. Now, I did mention that you won't be dueling by summoning for quite some time. You'll be starting off with cards, before moving to holograms and then, if you're very good, graduating to summoned duels. This is just to get you excited."

"Oh my god, this is going to be so cool!" Yuugi squealed, clapping her hands together. Jou looked pretty excited, too. Malik and Ryou exchanged amused looks as Mako turned and trotted down to the water. There were two boats waiting there. One boat already had two occupants, two figures cloud in identical blue cloaks that masked their faces. Mako got into the other. The two motors were switched on at the same time, and Mako and his opponent each drove out to one of the islands.

Mako got there first. He leapt nimbly from the boat and scaled the island with ease, standing tall and proud upon the rock. "Legendary Fisherman!" he called out. The waves before him churned violently as something large rose to the surface. In the next instant, a duel monster riding an enormous fish with several sets of razor sharp teeth exploded out of the water. Several students leapt back screaming. Mako just laughed heartily as the duel monster landed with a splash. It began making several large circles around Mako's island, never venturing too close to the other competitor who was only just arriving at his island.

"Show yourself, my opponent: Ghost Kotsuzuka!" he called out.

The blue cloaks were promptly discarded, revealing a very pale boy and a duel monster. Ryou bit back a groan of disgust. Even though the duel monster was quite a distance away, she could easily smell the scent of decay that was coming off of it. The creature was bright green and rotting, its skin barely covered in dull red armor that looked like it had seen better days. Apparently the boy was used to it, because he didn't seem overly bothered when a chunk of rotting flesh hit the rock right in front of him. The fresh _splat _sound carried clearly across the water, and Ryou clapped a hand over her mouth. She had to. She thought she was going to throw up. It didn't help when she heard one of the guys standing a few feet away start gagging and heaving.

"What the hell is that?" Malik asked after almost a minute of horrified silence.

"I think it's Armored Zombie." Yuugi looked like she was working hard to keep a straight face. "I, um, knew that there was a possibility we'd run into someone with that kind of partner, but I didn't think it would happen so soon. Zombies partners are pretty rare."

Malik shook her head. "Is that... what... what _happened_ to that monster?"

"Well..." Yuugi paused for a moment, watching as both competitors summoned their first duel monsters to the field, before she responded. "Once in a while a person can actually be born with a zombie for a partner monster, but that's extremely rare and it usually means the person is extremely sick. More often, a zombie monster is the result of when someone has been through something so traumatizing that they literally cannot cope with it. Sometimes it's the loss of someone important, or they get sick, or... anything, really. They fall into a deep depression, some of them get suicidal. It's like their duel monster starts to degenerate to reflect what's happening to the duelist's mind and body."

"That's horrible," Ryou said softly, wondering whether Ghost Kotsuzuka was physically sick or depressed. He certainly didn't look like he was healthy, considering that he was even paler than she was - and that was saying something.

"It also puts him at a disadvantage," said Jou.

"What do you mean?"

"They're fighting on a water field. I don't think zombies do too well in water," Jou replied. "He'd be better off fighting in a cemetery."

"But that's the whole point of Central Academy." The speaker was a young man with brown hair and brown eyes who'd been standing beside them and listening. He folded his arms and looked past them at the duel, adding, "They want you to fight outside of your comfort zone. If you're always dueling the field that's best suited to your monsters, you'll never actually learn anything and you'll be at a severe disadvantage when you_ do_ end up somewhere else. I've seen Ghost fight before. He's a lot better at it than you think he is."

"We didn't think he was _bad_," Yuugi said, looking surprised. "Especially if he's capable of cross-summoning. And even if he's not, there are a lot of different ways to get around that."

Cross-summoning, Ryou knew, was when duelists had the ability to physically summon monsters outside of their partner monster's type. Not everyone could do it, only those with a strong affinity for magic could. Those who couldn't usually relied on magic and trap cards to help make up the rest of the duel. "Can he?" she asked, curious.

"Unfortunately, no." The man extended his hand. "Honda Hiroto."

"Sasaki Shingo," Jou said, gripping his hand immediately. "That's Itou Akihiko." She nodded towards Yuugi. "And Kobayashi Hitoshi" Ryou "and Tanaka Kin." Malik.

"It's good to meet all of you," Honda said with a nod. "I'm guessing that we're going to be classmates for a little while, at least." He indicated the yellow port that was hanging around his neck. "Though I have to admit I'm hoping to make it to green before the end of the year. My older brother went here, and he was able to get all the way to blue before he was here for six months."

"I've heard it's hard to move up," Yuugi said, hoping that Honda would share a little more information with them. "Your brother must have had a lot of special skills."

Unfortunately, it seemed to be the wrong thing to say. Honda's face shut down and he just nodded before pointedly turning back to look at the duel. Yuugi looked at Ryou, who could only shrug in response and follow Honda's gaze. Mako was taking full advantage of the field by summoning water monsters that were hidden beneath the surface, making it nearly impossible for Bones to attack. Since he could only summon zombie monsters, the air was quite full of flying zombies and the smell was absolutely disgusting. The hot sun was beating down on the decomposing bodies, and the fact that they were standing downwind only made it even worse. Even Yuugi didn't look like she was enjoying the duel very much.

Mercifully, since both Mako and Bones had started the duel with only 1,000 life points, it ended fairly quickly with Mako as the winner. All of the creatures vanished except for their partner monsters, and suddenly Armored Zombie didn't smell nearly as bad as before. It was almost bearable. Mako gave a little speech about how soon they would be the ones facing opponents, and then he let them go. Ryou nearly broke her ankle trying to scramble up the path in the mad rush to get away from the ocean, but it was worth it. At least at the top she felt like she could breathe something other than the stench of death.

"My sister," Malik said as she stormed by, "is going to die."

"Just make sure you bury her fast," Ryou muttered, suppressing the urge to smell her hair. It was still long, even with the illusion that had been set up, and she was pretty sure that it would take a full bottle of shampoo to get that stench out.

Jou had gone off with Honda, so it was just Yuugi who caught up to Ryou. Now that they were alone, Ryou took the chance to ask. "You never said how it went with Yami last night. By the time you got back, we had to go have supper and then they had that party." And by party, she meant that all of the new Yellow boys had been summoned into the courtyard and given a long, thorough lecture on the rules by the headmaster. She, Jou and Yuugi had spent most of it trying to keep Malik from having a panic attack, even though Hafiz hadn't paid them a bit of attention - or really, even gotten close enough to be able to distinguish his daughter from the 50-odd other students there.

"It was okay," Yuugi said.

"Just okay?"

Yuugi shrugged. "I'm not sure what you want me to say. I helped him with his bag and then he walked me back to the dorm so that I wouldn't get lost. He's in Blue. We didn't really talk that much, just stupid shit."

"Yuugi -"

"I just don't get how we're supposed to do this," Yuugi burst out, so loud that some of the other students turned to look at them. Ryou stopped walking and, by unspoken agreement, so did Yuugi, waiting until everyone else had mostly passed before Yuugi continued. "Yami's a nice guy, I'm not going to lie. But I'm never going to be around him. He's in Blue for god's sake. You heard Honda, it took his brother six months to get up that far. I can't even summon anything. How am I supposed to get up to Blue in the next couple of weeks?"

"Maybe you'll really surprise them when we start dueling," Ryou said lamely. She knew even as she spoke that she wasn't doing anything to bolster Yuugi's confidence. It was hard to think of anything that would do that when Ryou was feeling the same way. Bakura was in Green, and Ryou didn't have a hope in hell of getting that high anytime soon. She'd be fortunate if she got up to Green before she graduated in four years time.

"Yeah right." Yuugi shook her head and sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be taking this out on you. I know you're in the same boat as me. I just think that Isis really underestimated how hard this is going to be."

"All we can do is try our best." Ryou pointed out. It was going to be hard, though, make no mistake about that. "You heard Mako. It sounds like there are some classes that Yami, Bakura and Seto might be in along with us. Just because they're in different colors doesn't mean they know any more about the school than we do. We've only been through one class. Maybe it will get better."

"Maybe." Yuugi didn't sound convinced. "Look, you better be careful about calling me that."

"What?"

"You said my name."

"Did I?" Surprised, Ryou thought back over their conversation and realized that Yuugi was right. It had slipped out without her noticing. She couldn't help it. Even though she'd practiced calling Yuugi 'Akihiko', it still didn't feel natural. It probably never would, but it was something she was going to have to watch. She made a face. "Is it too late to, like, change our names for good and move to Canada?"

Yuugi gave her a grim smile. "Just say the word and I'll buy our tickets."

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**A/N:** Fun facts! The last names for our girls were randomly chosen based on popular last names in Japan. But the first names were chosen on purpose:

Malik = Kin (which means 'gold')  
Yuugi = Akihiko (which means 'bright prince')  
Ryou = Hitoshi (which means 'even-tempered, level')  
Jou = Shingo (which means 'humility')

Please review!


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Ok, I admit it: I'm not great at duels. So I'm sorry that there's not much description; it's the one thing about Yu-Gi-Oh that I actively dislike. I hope it doesn't take away from your enjoyment of the story.

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It turned out that Ryou was right. After lunch, Yuugi and the others were sent to a small auditorium that had been set up with about three dozen small tables, each with two chairs. Right away Yuugi noticed that amongst the crowd was Yami, Bakura and Seto. The three of them were standing at the very back of the room. She caught Yami's eye and felt her heart flutter when he actually gave her a nod. She waved back and immediately felt like an idiot. She should have just nodded. Waving was way too girly. She turned back to her friends, flushed with embarrassment, and saw that Malik was grinning at her.

"Must've gone better than you thought," Malik said a little smugly.

"Shut up Malik," Yuugi muttered, folding her arms. Surprisingly Malik actually_ did_ fall silent, but the look of terror on her face proved that it wasn't because she wanted to. The headmaster of Central Academy, Hafiz Ishtar, had just stepped out onto the stage and was waving his hand in a request for a silence.

"Good afternoon," he said clearly, his voice loud thanks to the microphone, and Malik shuddered and pressed closer to Jou. "Now that you've all had a small taste of what it is that Central Academy has to offer, we're going to test your dueling skills. We want to know exactly where your strengths and weaknesses lie so that we know what to work on over the course of the next four years." He linked his arms behind his back and rocked on the balls of his feet. "You were not given advance notice because we didn't want you trying to read up on strategies ahead of time. These duels are meant to be based on your own merit, not what you can pick up from a book at the last minute."

"Shit," Ryou said under her breath, looking worried. A lot of the other boys didn't seem to be too pleased by that, either.

"These duels will be played with the cards only: no holograms and no summoned monsters. Those of you who have partner monsters will be given the card version to use, those of you who don't will be given a randomly chosen card by one of your instructors." Hafiz indicated the solemn-faced group of people standing to the right of the stage. "If you don't have a partner monster, come line up here. Those of you who do are on this side."

Yuugi stepped forward automatically with her friends. It surprised her to see that there were about ten other people in line with the four of them, not including Bakura, Seto and Yami. No wonder Isis had been convinced that they would fit right in. Apparently they weren't the only ones who would have to deal with that particular handicap. It made her feel a little bit better and she accepted the card she was handed with a smile. She couldn't help the gasp that escaped when she flipped it over and saw who it was.

"Dark Magician Girl?" Jou said, glancing over Yuugi's shoulder. "You should be pretty happy about that, Yuugi. She's one of your favorites."

"Yeah," Yuugi said, a little dazed as she clutched the card close to her chest. Out of the hundreds of cards that she could have been dealt, it warmed her to know that she'd gotten this one when she needed it the most. "Who did you get?"

Jou showed her the card. It was the Flame Soldier. "Not too bad, though I would've hoped for a more powerful one," she replied.

"Each of your find your way to a table," Hafiz ordered before Yuugi could say anything. "For your first round I want you facing an opponent in the same color as you, preferably someone that you don't know. You will find a deck of cards waiting for you at each place. You will not know what cards you are being dealt ahead of time and you are not permitted to look, that is part of the challenge. Sit down and wait for an instructor to take your names before you begin. And I want it to be made clear that cheating or underhanded tactics will not be tolerated." His eyes narrowed menacingly, like he was daring anyone to try it.

Not wanting to duel against her friends unless she had to, Yuugi made sure to sit down across from someone she didn't know. Her opponent, a tall boy with brown hair and eyes and an unfriendly smile, stared back at her in silence. It took about five minutes for one of the instructors to come over to them, and Yuugi spent the time looking around for the others. Each of them was facing someone she'd never met. Jou looked pretty confident, and so did Yami and Seto. Bakura had a bored expression. Malik and Ryou both looked nervous.

It wasn't hard to understand why. No wonder Honda's brother had been able to get up to Blue in six months! This was the perfect opportunity to showcase their skills. She wondered if Honda had known about this ahead of time, or if he was as surprised by the rest of them. She looked for him, but she didn't see him. She hoped that he and everyone did well. How they progressed in these duels was probably going to have a pretty big effect on how they did at Central Academy. This could be her opportunity to end up in the same category of Yami. Yuugi patted her bag, which she still had strapped across her instead of placing it on the back of her chair like most of the boys had, and resolved to do her best.

One of the instructors finally came over and took their names down, and then the duel began. It was, to put it politely, pitifully short. The guy she was dueling was pretty bad. He made novice mistakes right off and fought only with monsters, not using trap or magic cards at all. They started off with 1,500 life points each and Yuugi ended up being declared the winner after only ten minutes. There was an embarrassed, or possibly angry, flush on the guy's face as they shook hands, but he made no comment and just walked off.

Yuugi went up to the stage to wait for the rest of the first round to be over with. Yami was already standing there, hands tucked into his pockets. He smiled when he saw her. "You must be pretty good for your duel to be over that fast."

"I don't think you have to be very talented to get past the first round," Yuugi said without thinking. Some of the guys who were close enough to hear her comment turned around and glared at her, and she blushed. Yami chuckled. "I-I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that some people have never dueled before, and I really like it so I've had a fair amount of practice. That's all."

"I understand." Yami was still grinning. "And you're right. I could tell that the guy I went up against hadn't dueled very often. Maybe you and I will get the chance to duel. I bet you could offer me more of a challenge." He was playing with the card he'd been given to use as a deck master as he spoke. Curious, Yuugi stepped closer until she got a glimpse of who it was. She barely smothered her gasp this time. It was Dark Magician.

"Yeah," she said, belatedly realizing that Yami was still waiting for her to answer. "Yeah, I'd like that. I usually just duel with one of my friends, and he's good but he's still learning."

Yami nodded. "I usually practice with my cousin," he said carelessly, tilting his head to the left. Yuugi followed his gaze automatically and realized that he was looking at Seto. "He's pretty good, but he hasn't managed to beat me yet. Even though he demands that we duel almost every day."

"You win again _Kaiba Seto_?" Yuugi said before she could stop herself, unable to keep the impressed note out of her voice. Everyone knew about Seto's dueling skills. Gozaburo talked his ward up at every opportunity, making sure that the whole world was well aware of the fact that not having a partner monster hadn't affected Seto in the slightest. And Gozaburo went out of his way to prove it, too, scheduling regular dueling contests where people could come challenge each other and Seto. As far as she knew, Seto always emerged the uncontested winner. But she didn't ever remember seeing Yami as a participant, and she and Jou had gone to watch more than one of those challenges.

"Yeah. Like I said, we usually practice together but we haven't had any official duels," Yami replied. The jovial tone had vanished, and now he looked a little more somber. It wasn't hard to guess why. If Yami was the one who usually came out on top, Yuugi thought, then it had to be frustrating that he had ended up in Blue while Seto had been elevated into Purple. She suspected that Gozaburo had done that on purpose. It probably annoyed the man to no end that Seto couldn't - or wouldn't - defeat Yami in a duel.

"Well, maybe you'll get the chance. It looks like Seto won." Yuugi was watching as Seto smoothly stood up, pushing his chair out. His opponent was staring down at the table with a bright red face.

"I figured that he would. He's a good duelist, even though he thinks too much with his head." Yami had yet to stop fiddling with his card and he talked like he didn't even remember that Yuugi was standing right beside him, listening. "He refuses to allow himself to become emotionally invested in any of the cards, no matter how much I tell him that it would be to his benefit. Most of the time that's the reason he loses, because he always gets so caught up in strategy that he forgets that sometimes there has to be an element of trust."

Yuugi was surprised to realize she knew exactly what Yami was talking about. From the moment that she had been first introduced to the concept of dueling, Sugoroku had taught her that it was important to trust in the cards, to work with them as though they were friends and not merely use them as pawns in a game to be won. There were people who thought they were crazy for thinking that way, but Sugoroku had never faltered. In his eyes, each card and monster deserved to be treated with the same respect as a person.

It was one of those lessons that Jou had taken to heart. It would be interesting, she thought, to see what happened when Seto and Jou crossed paths again. If they did turn out to be soul mates, she could foresee some battles in the future. She started to say as much to Yami - it seemed to be the perfect excuse for them to spend time together, getting Seto and Jou to duel - but he was already stepping away from her as Seto approached. Yuugi could have said something, but she hesitated too long and her chance was lost: Bakura joined them ranting about the stupidity of the boy he'd just dueled, and she didn't think he'd appreciate Yuugi listening in.

"Damn," she muttered, realizing that she'd allowed a prime opportunity to slip away. She and Yami had been having such a good conversation, too! He'd actually suggested that they have a duel, and then he'd told her things about Seto that was pretty sure he hadn't shared with anyone else. And then she'd stood there in silence like a complete moron and let him walk away.

She closed her eyes and tried not to sigh too loudly with frustration as the headmaster called out for the remaining students to take their seats again and everyone left in the room started to shuffle around. Yami knew she was alive: it was a small step in the right direction, at least. And if she could get him to sit down and duel with her, Yuugi knew that she could give him a run for his money. As she walked over to face her next opponent, she wondered just how she was going to make it happen.

**AU**

Malik had been a little more worried about the actual dueling part of Central Academy than she'd let on. She wasn't quite as bad as Ryou when it came to dueling, but her skills definitely left something be desired. Fortunately, it seemed that all those hours of watching Yuugi and Jou go head to head (or rather, all those hours of watching Yuugi kick Jou's ass) had made more of a difference than she realized. She defeated the first guy she faced without too much trouble, if only because he spent most of the duel muttering about how outrageous it was that they had to use the cards instead of summoning. Considering that he didn't even seem to know how to use the cards, much less actual monsters, he didn't have much ground to stand on and Malik whipped him in less than twenty minutes.

Her second duel was a little harder. She could tell that this time her opponent had actually dueled before. It took considerably longer and required making some split second, possibly rash decisions that ended up paying off. Still, she was shaken as she got up and walked back towards the stage. Some of the students were better than she'd expected, and she had serious doubts about how well she was going to do at the third round. There were only about fifteen students left, and she noticed that Ryou had been knocked out that time.

Hafiz indicated the start of the third round and Malik sat down at the nearest table. She fingered the card she'd been given to use as a deck master, Ground Attacker Bugroth, and glanced across the table as her new opponent sat down. It was a boy, of course, but not one that she recognized. He had dark blond hair that stuck up in crazed spikes and a nice tan. His eyes really caught her attention, though. They were a dark purple, almost black, and he was staring right at her with a faint smirk.

Automatically, Malik checked the port around his neck. Yellow. She raised her eyes back up to meet his and smiled tentatively. "Good luck."

He raised an eyebrow. "I believe I should be saying that to you."

A little amused by the audacity of the comment, Malik just shook her head as the instructor told them they could begin. Right away, within just a couple of moves, she knew that she was out-matched. This guy had clearly played duel monsters before, and fairly often given the ease with which he laid out trap cards. More than once, she just barely kept herself from walking straight into one. It took all of her concentration and skill, and still her life points trickled away blow by blow. Even using her deck master didn't help. Her only saving grace was the battle lasted for nearly thirty minutes and in the end the guy was left with only 300 life points.

"And the winner is Yamada," the instructor said, carefully marking it down on her tablet. "You can go up to the stage and wait for the next round to finish. Kobayashi, you're out of here."

Malik watched her walk away and sighed as she started to gather her cards. "That was a good game," she remarked. She hadn't had much chance to watch how other people dueled, and it was interesting to see the variety in style. Yamada played much more aggressively than Yuugi or Jou did. He'd made it clear from the beginning that he was there to win.

"It was," Yamada agreed. The ever-present smirk was still there as he rose to his feet and extended his hand. "You're a better duelist than I gave you credit for, though you still have to work on your opening moves. I guess there are some things I'll be able to teach you after all."

"What -" Malik had reached out to take his hand without thinking, and her mouth dropped open in outrage as their hands impacted. Her jaw snapped shut with an audible click as she felt the by now familiar tingle racing up her arm, into her elbow and shoulder. The mark on her belly burned with a sharp ache that made her gasp, and she instinctively tried to wrench her hand away. Yamada closed his fingers around hers tightly, preventing her from pulling away, and leaned as close as he could considering that the table was still between them.

"It's alright, little kitten," he murmured, his voice deliberately pitched low so that no one else would be able to hear. And when he spoke like that, soft and warm and intimate, she recognized him. That was the same voice that had spoken to her at the Resistance meeting.

"It's you!" she gasped, her eyes growing wide.

His smile this time was more genuine. "It's me," he agreed. Apparently he felt confident that she wasn't going to try to yank away, because his grip shifted: it became less of a constraint and more of a caress, fingertips sliding up the inside of her wrist. Every place he touched tingled as the painful burning on her hip finally subsided into a constant throbbing heat.

"I don't understand," Malik said, her throat tight with confusion. Her face felt hot and she knew she was blushing. She had to many questions she wanted to ask, but this wasn't the place for it. Not when her father was standing no more than ten feet away. "If you knew - who_ are_ you?"

"You can call me Mariku," he said, and then he let go. She was left feeling strangely bereft when he leaned back, putting distance between them. "You and your friends can meet out at the parking lot, tonight after dark. We have some things to discuss." He flashed her one last smile and then walked away.

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Please review!


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** Enjoy!

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Ryou wasn't all that surprised when she ended up losing in the second round. Her opponent, at least, was gracious enough about her defeat to say nothing as she got to her feet and quietly left the auditorium. Honestly, she'd done better than she had thought she would, but she didn't think she'd done well enough to get up to Green. She leaned against the wall and sighed, folding her arms across her chest and watching as the other students who had lost wandered away. They hadn't been given anything to do, so most of them were taking the opportunity to make themselves scarce before an instructor decided otherwise. Ryou, on the other hand, was more interested in hanging around to see how her friends did.

She was still standing there when Malik stumbled out a few minutes later. Ryou straightened up instantly. "Hey, Kin-kun," she called out. Malik didn't stop walking, didn't even act like she recognized the name, and Ryou swore internally because goddamn this was a pain. "Hey, wait!" She pushed off of the building and ran to catch up, placing a hand down on Malik's shoulder. She jumped when Malik swung around almost violently, hands raised in a defensive position. "Hey, it's just me!"

"Oh god, sorry," Malik said, drawing back and letting her hands fall to her sides. She touched her bag and then hoisted the strap higher onto her shoulder. "I thought maybe you were -"

"Who?" Ryou asked, though from the expression on Malik's face she thought maybe she already knew. She put a hand on her own messenger bag, fingers automatically moving to where she could feel the faint outline of the Millennium Ring. It felt dangerous to be carrying it with her out in the open, but then against she didn't have much choice. Just because they didn't have roommates at Central Academy didn't mean there wasn't a chance someone might walk into her room.

"My yami," Malik whispered, grabbing hold of Ryou's arm.

"You met him?" Ryou's eyes widened and she let Malik pull her close, trying to ignore the bruises she knew would be there later. "You know who he is?"

"His name is Mariku. He was my third challenger," said Malik. Her face wasn't quite as pale as it had been, and she released her death grip on Ryou's arm. Ryou glanced around to make sure that no one was close enough to listen as Malik went on, "I didn't know who he was until the end of the duel when he offered to shake my hand, but he sure as hell knew who I was. He wasn't even surprised when the mark started to burn, Ryou. He was expecting it. And he told me that he wants to meet us in the parking lot tonight so that we can talk, whatever that means."

"Wow." Ryou couldn't believe it. She knew that Malik had been worrying a lot about how she was going to find her yami amongst the sea of students at Central Academy. None of them had been expecting that he would end up approaching them. It was a lucky break. "Are you going to go?"

"I don't really have a choice, do I? He knows who I am. It's not like I can avoid him forever. He goes here too, and sooner or later we're going to run into each other again." She paused for a moment, thinking. "Besides, this is my chance to ask him some questions. I know there are things that Isis wasn't telling us. Maybe he'll be a little more willing to share."

Ryou nodded, and then before she could stop herself she blurted out, "You're so lucky."

"What?"

"Your yami approached _you_, Malik. You didn't have to bother trying to make nice with him. Have you seen Bakura? Do you know how he looks at me every time I get close enough? He looks at me like I'm an inconvenient bug that he might step on, but only if he's already walking in my direction because he can't be bothered to expend the energy to change directions." Ryou caught her breath, trying to put a stop to the torrent of pent-up words, and finally shook her head. "How will I ever know if I can trust him if I don't get the chance to say more than two words to him?"

Malik gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Ryou. I wish I knew what to say to make this easier on you guys, but I don't."

"It's okay." Ryou sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She didn't begrudge Malik. Really, she didn't. It was hard enough on Malik even being at the school with her father around. She didn't need the added tension of having to find out who her yami was. At least Ryou knew that Bakura had to be somewhat aware of what was going on, considering Kaiba Corp was keeping him under lock and key.

"I'm going to go back to my room. Did you want to come?"

"No, I think I'll wait here for - for the others." She just barely stopped herself from saying 'Yuugi' and 'Jou'.

"Okay. You can tell them what happened. Mariku said that he wants all of us to come to the parking lot tonight, and frankly I'd feel better if I didn't have to go there alone."

"No, of course. I'll definitely tell them." Ryou watched her friend walk away, and in spite of her initial reaction it was blatantly obvious that Malik was feeling a lot better. There was a noticeable bounce to her step that had been missing before. It was amazing, and a little scary, to think of what a conversation with her yami could do already. That was the thought going through Ryou's head right before a hand slid across her mouth and an arm wrapped around her waist, hoisting her off of her feet and carrying her easily away from the path.

Ryou fought, squirming and jabbing with elbows and trying to kick, but it was of no use. Her kidnapper seemed to be expecting that, and although she earned a couple of pained, male grunts he didn't let go. At least, not until they were well out of sight of anyone who might have been walking by. She was set down roughly and spun around, back pushed up against the wall of the auditorium before she had the chance to catch her breath. She kept her eyes closed for a minute, half-expecting a punch to the face or worse, but when nothing happened she opened them slowly. Her jaw dropped.

"B-Bakura?" she stammered, stunned.

Bakura crossed his arms and glared at her. "I heard you talking to your friend," he said.

Oh shit, Ryou thought, making a conscious decision to keep her arms at her waist instead of rubbing at her chest. The mark was burning from their extended period of touch, and she had to wonder if Bakura was feeling it too. He must have been, even though he gave no indication. "I thought you were still inside," she said, mind racing. "I mean, you're a good duelist. You couldn't have been kicked out already."

His smile was distinctly unimpressed and more than a little terrifying. "I'm curious to know how you know that I'm good duelist, but I have no need to test my skills against those pathetic idiots," he replied. "No matter how well I do, I won't be moving above or below Green. Gozaburo wouldn't want me to be in the same level as the priest or the pharaoh."

"Why not? Yami and Seto are your friends." She spoke without thinking, and it only dawned on her that she'd walked right into a trap when he smirked. "I-I mean, that is if you were referring to... oh, forget it." Ryou crossed her arms and sighed. Isis was definitely going to kill her and Malik for being so careless as to discuss this in public. They were fortunate that Bakura was the only one who had overheard.

"Who are you?" Bakura asked, and there was no mistaking the steely tone in his voice. He wanted answers and he was prepared to get them. "Why are you really here?"

"Can we go somewhere else to talk?" Ryou asked. "I'd really rather that no one else heard this."

"No." His voice was flat, and he didn't look like he was going to be easily swayed. Ryou blew out a breath in frustration, frowning. She recognized that he probably thought she was trying to get out of telling him anything, but honestly she wasn't.

"Fine," she said. "But if anyone else overhears it's on you. And how do I know you can be trusted?"

"You can't. But your real concern should be what I'll do to you if you _don't_ tell me. For example, I bet that the headmaster would be very interested to know that there's a couple of students walking around talking about yamis. And that, apparently, one of those yamis escaped the examination process and is planning to be at the parking lot tonight." Bakura raised an eyebrow.

Ryou paled so fast she got dizzy. "Oh my god, please don't talk to him. Bakura, you'll ruin everything!" She reached out and clutched at his arm before she could stop herself. She started to speak in a low, furious whisper. "I'll tell you, okay? My name is Bakura Ryou. I didn't want to come to Central Academy. I was talked into coming by the sister of one of my friends. She has this crazy idea that me and my friends are the hikaris from the legend, and she said that she thinks our yamis are here. She made us come so that we could get to know them better and figure out if they could be trusted or not."

"Trusted for what?" It was impossible to know what Bakura was thinking. His face was completely blank, his eyes dark as he stared at her.

"The group she works for wants to take down Kaiba Corp," Ryou said quietly. Talking about this out loud with someone other than Yuugi, Jou or Malik felt weird. "I'm pretty sure they have something to do with the Resistance, even though she never admitted it. But she also said they can't do that without the combined power of the yamis and the hikaris and the Millennium Items. She said that Gozaburo Kaiba keeps you guys under too close a watch, and that attending school here was the only way to get to know you." She sighed. "Only it didn't work out so well, because in my case you're Green and I'm only Yellow and I don't think I'm good enough at dueling to be able to get up to Green."

Bakura stared at her for a couple of minutes. "Do you realize how crazy that sounds?"

"Believe me, I know." He needed proof, Ryou knew. She looked around again, hardly able to believe that she was really doing this, before she let go of his arm. She brought her hand up and tugged the collar of her shirt down. It was incredibly uncomfortable, because it made her feel like she was exposing her breasts to someone who was basically a stranger. But all Bakura could see was a male chest and, more importantly, her mark.

Thanks to the illusion that had been cast, it was faded. Or maybe she should say, it had been faded. The lines were angry red now, as though the mark had just been freshly seared into her flesh. It stood out starkly, drawing Bakura's attention immediately. Ryou flinched a little when he reached out to touch, but forced herself to hold still. This was the first time someone outside of her immediate family had ever touched her there, and it was a lot more intimate than she'd been expecting. His fingertips were so soft against her flesh, the tips calloused but more gentle than she would have expected from Bakura.

She raised her eyes to his face, noting that curiosity had finally broken through the blank mask he'd been trying to maintain, and couldn't help herself. She reached out and snagged the hem of his shirt, pulling it down far enough so that she could see his mark. He stiffened at the initial touch but he didn't try to push her away, and she was grateful for that. After everything she had just confessed to him she needed to make sure that he had the same mark, that Isis hadn't been wrong after all.

But no: there it was, in the exact same place. Ryou stared at it with wide eyes and couldn't resist placing her fingers against it. There was a weird, overwhelming moment when the fizzing sensation beneath her skin got out of control. She gasped and heard Bakura swear, and then the blazing heat settled into something was warm and familiar. She pulled her hand back away, a little relieved when Bakura did the same, and then fixed her top so that nothing would show.

"There you go, now you know I was telling the truth," she said a little shakily, clearing her throat.

"I believe that you're telling the truth," Bakura replied. "I have no proof that the things you've been told are the truth. I've been lied to many times over, kid. That's how I got this." He took hold of his pant leg and lifted it, showing off his ankle.

"Oh my god." Ryou dropped to her knees to get a closer look, unable to keep from being horrified at the sight of the contraption strapped securely around Bakura's ankle. She could tell that the skin underneath was red and irritated from the tight grip, but the ugly thing was seamless. There didn't seem to be any way to get it off. She looked up at Bakura, speechless.

"I got it a couple of years ago," Bakura said, releasing his pants and allowing the hem to fall back over his ankle. "I was... stupid, at the time. I'd always managed to avoid the examination, but I was caught stealing and they noticed it." He folded his arms, looking cross. "They contacted Gozaburo immediately, of course, and he had me brought in. He gave me a choice: prison for the rest of my life in the worst jail he could come up with, or working for him."

"But you were just a child!" Ryou exclaimed.

He shot her a bitter smile. "If you think that matters to someone like Gozaburo, you're even more naive than I thought. Evidently he still didn't trust me after I chose not to go to prison, because he strapped this on. It's a tracer. It tells him my exact location at all times. It can't be switched off, and if he realizes that I'm doing something he doesn't approve of he can incapacitate or kill me with the push of a button. I learned that one the hard way." He paused for a moment, looking down at her. "You were an idiot to come here. If Gozaburo figures out that you're here, what he did to me will look like a walk in the park."

There was no denying the cold fear that curled up in Ryou's stomach, but right there along with it was a hard lump of anger. How dare Gozaburo do something so cruel to a child? To_ anyone_? Bakura didn't deserve to be treated this way just because he'd been born with a mark on his body that said he was supposed to be able to do something special. None of them did. Just because there was some stupid prophecy that said they would have access to magic or powers... it was ridiculous.

"I'm sorry," Ryou said, standing up. Noticing the look of shock on his face, she added, "No one deserves this, Bakura. It makes me glad that my parents protected me when I was a kid." And that she'd been born a girl, a little fact that she hadn't shared with Bakura yet. That could wait until later. "I wish that I had been there to do something about it. I wasn't, but I'm here now." She looked him square in the eyes. "You're right, I don't know if my friend's sister can be trusted. Maybe she can't. Maybe she and her friends want to take over the world like Gozaburo Kaiba did. If you don't want to trust them, that's fine. But what I do know is that I'd like the chance to find out if maybe we could do something about it."

He didn't say anything for a moment. The longest few minutes of Ryou's life. Then he said, "You keep mentioning your friends. There are more of you?"

"Yes. You saw one of them in the parking lot. There are two others, the hikari of the pharaoh and the soul mate of the priest." Ryou purposely did not mention any names. That wasn't her place.

"The soul mate of the priest?" Amusement flashed over Bakura's face. "That ought to be interesting."

"Tell me about it." She relaxed slightly, feeling a little more at ease. This was easily the longest conversation that she'd had with Bakura, and it turned out that he wasn't too bad - provided she overlooked the whole kidnapping aspect, that is. "Look, please don't tell the headmaster."

"I wouldn't tell that jackass anything," Bakura said, and she thought that he meant it. "However, I may show up tonight."

"You..." As soon as she opened her mouth, Ryou knew that there was no point in arguing. Bakura looked like he had his mind made up, and she didn't think she'd have much luck in changing it. All she would be able to do was warn her friends ahead of time that he might show up - and hope that he was telling the truth when he said that he wouldn't mention this to the headmaster. "Alright. Fine. Just don't say anything to the pharaoh or the priest, okay?"

Bakura simply dipped one shoulder in a shrug, neither affirming or denying what she'd asked as he walked away.

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Please review!


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: **Recently I got a comment from someone complaining that I don't always answer reviews. And that's true, I don't. But it's not because I'm ignoring you, or because I don't read them. I love reviews and I appreciate every single one more than you know. It's because I'm busy. I spend a good percentage of what little free time I have writing, and a lot of the time it comes down to you can either get a response to your review or you can have a new chapter on Friday. I figured most of you would choose to have a new chapter. If you have something you_ really_ want to talk to me about, you can always PM me and I'll do my best to answer, but please don't take the lack of response to your review as an insult. I'll try to be better about responding, but it won't always be possible.

On that note, there will be no update on Friday, August 9th, because my parents are moving and I'll be out of town.

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Jou was knocked out in the fourth round. Yuugi was knocked out in the fifth. Or rather, before the fifth round could begin Hafiz took one look at the scattered group of people who were still in the running and stood up to declare that they didn't have enough time for the duels to be concluded and that the results would be posted in the morning for anyone who wanted to see their new color. A little disappointed, Yuugi stood up from the table she had just sat down at and watched as Yami walked over to Seto. The two of them headed out the door without speaking to anyone else. Hafiz watched them go with an expression on his face that Yuugi didn't like. It didn't take a genius to realize that the headmaster wasn't fond of either of them.

"What a rip off!" Jou said heatedly, appearing so suddenly that Yuugi jumped. "I really wanted to see you duel your way to the top. Why did he make you stop? You totally could've taken Kaiba."

"I don't even know if I would've been dueling him," Yuugi pointed out, taking hold of her friend's arm and ushering Jou out of the room as quickly as possible before anyone else heard her rant. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that he stopped them for a reason. Yami told me that Gozaburo doesn't want him and Seto dueling each other. The headmaster was probably afraid that the two of them would end up facing off if we kept going, and if he decided to call it off then it would be really obvious why."

"It still sucks," Jou muttered, stuffing her hands into her pockets.

"What sucks?" Ryou had been standing beside the door, staring off into space. As they came out, she straightened up with a look of confusion.

"We didn't get to finish because the headmaster called it off," Yuugi explained. "I made it to the start of the fifth round, though. I hope it will be enough to get me into Blue. Yami and I were starting to get a good conversation going, but we were interrupted when the round finished."

"Oh, that's good. How did you do, Jou?"

"I got beat in the fourth round," she admitted. "It was a stupid mistake on my part. You always told me not to get over-excited, but I got carried away thinking that the guy I was dueling had walked into my trap. Turns out that he knew exactly what I was doing and he'd set a trap up to counter it. I couldn't stop him in time. The funny thing is, I peeked at the top card in my deck after we were done. If I could've drawn one more card, I would've won!" She shook her head in disgust. "Dueling is so much harder when you have no idea what's in your deck."

"I think that was the point, but you still did really good," Yuugi said comfortingly, giving her a pat on the arm. "It probably won't be enough to get you up to Purple, though."

Jou smirked. "Oh damn," she said, snapping her fingers. "I'm crushed."

"I have to tell you guys something!" Ryou burst out, preventing Yuugi from saying anything. "Malik and I were talking earlier, and she said that she found out who her yami is. And he knows who she is because _he_ was the one who approached her. And then we were stupid, we were talking about things where anyone could hear, and then someone did hear. Luckily it was just Bakura, but he made me tell him everything. I didn't tell him your names though, I kept that a secret, but he knows why we're here and who I am."

Yuugi blinked slowly, lips parted even though she couldn't think of anything to say. It took her almost a full minute to sort through the bewildering tidal wave of words, and when she had for a moment she still didn't know what to say. She exchanged a look with Jou before clearing her throat. "Are you telling me that Bakura knows who you are? And that Malik has made contact with her yami?" she asked, just to be sure.

"Yes," Ryou said, nodding her head. "I know it was really stupid of us to be talking out here where anyone could hear us, but Malik was so excited that it just didn't occur to me. She said that he has some information for us and that he wants us to meet with him tonight in the parking lot." She crossed her arms. "And then I got jealous and said that Malik was lucky because I was having so much trouble with Bakura, only I didn't realize that he was standing close enough to be listening. As soon as Malik walked away, he made me explain."

"Made you?" Jou repeated, hackles immediately rising as she looked Ryou over. "What do you mean, _made_ you?"

"He didn't hurt me, Jou. Well, not physically. He just threatened to go to the headmaster and tell him what he overheard if I didn't."

Yuugi felt dizzy at the thought. There was no doubt in her mind that Hafiz would believe Bakura, too. He'd be on them faster than they could run, and he would immediately get Kaiba Corp involved. "Do you think he's going to do that? I mean, should we be running away?" she asked, more than a little alarmed. She started trying to figure out how quickly the four of them could make it off the grounds. She'd have to go back to her dorm for a couple of things, but most of it could be left behind.

"Actually..." Ryou trailed off and paused, looking thoughtful. Slowly, she said, "I don't think Bakura would tell anyone, much less the headmaster. I'm pretty sure that he was just trying to use the best threat he could come up with."

"No offense, Ryou, but pretty sure doesn't fill me with confidence," said Jou.

Ryou made a face. "I know, but think about it. Turning us in is only going to give Gozaburo Kaiba exactly what he wants, and that's the last thing that Bakura would want to do. I saw what Kaiba did to him to keep him under control. It's barbaric." She tilted her head and looked at her friends imploringly. "I know I should have kept my mouth shut, but I... I feel like we can trust him. Come on, you guys. I don't want to leave yet, not when I'm finally making progress on getting to know my yami."

Jou sighed. "I don't know. I think we should cut our losses and go."

"Yuugi? what do you think?" Ryou was biting her lip.

Yuugi looked back and forth between her two friends. On the one hand, she could see where Jou was coming from. None of them had spent enough time with their yamis to know whether or not they were trustworthy. But on the other hand, Ryou was right. Bakura didn't have any reason to go to the headmaster, and leaving too soon if it wasn't necessary was silly. She sighed. "I don't know," she admitted. "Part of me thinks that we should leave, but the other part of me thinks that maybe this is a step in the right direction. After all, the whole point of us coming here was to find our yamis. Ryou did it a little bit ahead of schedule, but..."

"I can't believe this!" Huffing, Jou spun on her heel and stomped away. Ryou and Yuugi watched her go in silence before they looked at each other.

"Yuugi?" Ryou said eventually.

"I'll go talk to her," Yuugi said, resisting the urge to rub her forehead. She was getting a headache, and she had the feeling that it was only going to get worse before it got better. "I think it will be okay, Ryou. We'll go to the parking lot tonight and see what happens. I think that's really all we can do."

Ryou nodded. "Okay. I'll go find Malik."

Yuugi set off after Jou immediately, because sometimes it was better if Jou didn't get the chance to sit and stew and work herself into a temper, and fortunately it wasn't all that hard to figure out where she'd gone. Jou had a thing for heights. She didn't like being caged in, and for her there was nothing worse than being somewhere she couldn't get out. She'd said, once, that it was the reason she'd never minded taking her little sister to the ocean so many times when they were kids. And, in lieu of the fact that any high places at Central Academy were also public places, Yuugi went to the water field where they'd had their first class.

She came over the hill just in time to see Jou toss a rock across the water with a quick, neat flick of the wrist. It skipped one-two-three-four-five-_six_ times before sinking, and Yuugi clapped. "That was really good!" she said, stopping at the edge of the path to take off her socks and shoes. There was no sense in trying to walk on the sand in shoes when she could go bare foot.

"It was okay." Jou stared hard at the spot where the stone had disappeared. "I've done better, but that was a while ago. Guess I'm out of practice."

"That doesn't seem like the only thing you're out of," Yuugi said gently, wiggling her toes in the sand as she stopped beside her friend. "Jou, I get the feeling that there's something you're not telling me. I know that you really don't want to be here, but... Are you okay?"

Jou didn't say anything for a minute. She picked up another stone and sent it skipping, scowling when it sank after only five. "I never should've made us go to that Resistance meeting. You were right, Yuugi. It was a stupid idea. If I'd known what was going to happen while we were there, I would've dropped it."

"Jou -"

"I just... god, it drives me crazy that I touched him and saw my partner!"

Hold on. Yuugi turned to stare at her friend with wide eyes. "Did you just say what I _think_ you said?" she asked in disbelief. Up until now, she'd been operating under the assumption that Seto might not be Jou's soul mate after all. Isis was convinced that was the case, but until they had proof Yuugi wasn't. But maybe there was more proof than she thought. "Jou, you _touched _Seto? And you saw your partner?"

"Yes," Jou said reluctantly, skipping another rock. "It happened at that stupid meeting when Malik made us go over and talk to them. I punched him, remember? I didn't think much about it at the time, but I saw a monster when my hand and his face made contact." She smirked faintly and sent a fourth rock sailing out across the water. It disappeared without a single skip. "It was only for a second, but I'm pretty sure that I saw the Red Eyes Black Dragon."

"Oh," Yuugi breathed. The Red Eyes Black Dragon had always been Jou's favorite card without a doubt. It had taken some doing, but Yuugi, Ryou and Malik had all chipped in to buy her the card for her twelfth birthday. It had rapidly become Jou's most prized possession, so to hear that Red Eyes might be Jou's partner wasn't that surprising. Jou certainly had enough of a temper to be a dragon rider, and it would explain her mark.

"I didn't say anything because I knew what everyone would think," Jou concluded. Suddenly, she gave up skipping rocks and just sat down in the sand. "I hate this, Yuugi. I really hate this. And it's not just because it's Kaiba Seto, either. I mean, the guy is a jerk but I can understand that he was probably having a bad day. It just - it really bothers me that I'm dependent on some guy to have any magic or even a partner. Why can't I do those kinds of things on my own?"

Yuugi sat down next to her as she thought about what to say. She'd never realized that this bothered Jou as much as it did, and now she felt a little guilty for never having tried to find out what was wrong before. She'd been given ample opportunity to notice, considering Jou's enthusiasm for changing the world was based around giving girls more influence. "Jou, I'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you. I wish I could change things to make it better, but no one knows why some people are born with soul mates and others aren't. It's just one of those things."

"It's okay, Yuugi. I know that you guys are in the same boat as me." Jou sighed and looked out at the water. "I guess it's true what they say about being careful what you wish for. I wanted a way to change the world and get rid of Kaiba Corp and now I have it." She smiled, but it was noticeably bitter. "I guess I should've asked to win the lottery or something like that."

"I don't think that's how it works," Yuugi said, amused in spite of herself. The water was creeping closer to them as the tide rose, and by now she could feel a fine spray on the bottom of her legs every time the waves rolled in. It felt good. "Jou, you don't have to do this. Try to get close to him, I mean, not if it upsets you this much. You're not a hikari. You weren't given a Millennium Item. And I'm sure that if Seto really is the priest, he'll be willing to do whatever the pharaoh wants him to. So if you're really that uncomfortable with everything, none of us will blame you for keeping quiet."

"Thanks, Yuugi," Jou said quietly. "It means a lot to hear you say that, but I can't do that. You guys agreed to come here and put yourselves in danger on the off chance that this might all work out. I know you don't want to be here anymore than I do. I'm not going to ask you to do something that I'm not willing to do myself."

"Technically, you're not the one asking us to do it," Yuugi pointed out, but she was grateful that Jou seemed to be a lot calmer now. Like it or not, if Seto really was her soul mate than Jou would never have a partner monster without him. That connection was necessary, vital, on both sides.

"I know, but still." Jou stretched her arms above her head. "So what do you think? Can Bakura be trusted?"

"It's hard to tell. Ryou seemed to think that he could be." She thought about Yami and what she would want to do if he'd been the one to find out. Yuugi didn't know him very well, that was true. But what she had seen of Yami she liked, and Yami and Bakura were close friends. She found it hard to believe that a guy like Yami would be close to someone who would report to Gozaburo Kaiba. "I guess we're going to find out tonight, though. Maybe we should get to the parking lot before the sun goes down and see if it looks okay."

Jou cast a considering gaze at the sky. "That'll be in a couple of hours," she said unhappily. "Does that mean we're not going to get to eat dinner?"

Yuugi had to swallow a laugh. "Why don't you head to the parking lot?" she suggested. "I'll stop by the snack shop and pick us up something to eat. We can hang out in the car and talk about our duels and where we went wrong."

"You mean where_ I_ went wrong."

"I made mistakes too. Just because mine didn't end up costing me the duel doesn't mean I don't have to worry about them." Yuugi got up and dusted herself off. She left Jou sitting in the sand and climbed back up the path after she put her socks and shoes back on. It had gotten cooler as the day went on, and she decided to stop by her dorm for a sweater before she went to the snack shop. Her phone rang just as she got to her room, and she couldn't help swearing softly when she realized who it was.

Isis didn't even give her the opportunity to say hello. "Have you made contact yet?" she demanded the second that the line was connected.

"Yes," Yuugi responded shortly.

"And?"

"And it's only been a couple of days. You're going to have to give us more time than just that. You can't expect us to know if someone is trustworthy that quickly, Isis."

"Yuugi -"

"No!" The stress of the past week made Yuugi's voice sharper than she'd intended, but it was enough to make Isis fall silent. "Seriously, enough. You asked us to do this and we have, we came here and we might end up - end up_ imprisoned_ or _dead_ because of it, so you just have to back off and let us do this on our time, okay? Kaiba Corp has been in control for this long. Another few weeks or months or whatever won't hurt."

There was a long pause, long enough to make Yuugi wonder whether Isis had hung up, and then Isis said, "We'll meet you tomorrow night at 289 Sunset Drive to renew the illusion. We'll be there at 9:00pm. Don't be late." and then she really did hang up.

Left alone with only the dial tone for company, Yuugi snapped her phone shut and sat down on her bed. She dropped her phone and buried her face in her hands, shaking all over. It took several slow, deep breaths before the looming threat of tears disappeared, and even then she had to wipe her eyes a couple of times. She knew that Jou would be wondering where she was, but it was still several minutes before she felt composed enough to face the world.

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Please review!


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:** Enjoy!

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The sun had officially disappeared and the moon was well overhead by the time that Malik and Ryou made it to the parking lot. It turned out that Hafiz could be particularly long-winded when he wanted to be, and right after dinner he'd launched into a long speech about how Kaiba Corp was depending on all of them to be the future and so they should work really hard to make sure that they had the opportunity to stand out and be noticed. After almost an hour of droning on, he'd capped it off with a promise to post the results about their new ranks in the morning before letting them go.

Considering that they'd then had to wait for the right moment when no one would notice them slipping off, Malik was ready to explode from sheer frustration. She huffed under her breath as she stormed towards the parking lot, hoping that Mariku hadn't left already. If he had, she was going to... well, she didn't know what she was going to do exactly, but it wouldn't bode well for Hafiz. For the first time ever, Malik thought she could see the resemblance between him and Isis. Her sister had apparently come by the gift of gab honestly.

She tried not to think about that, though. As far as she and Isis were concerned, after Hafiz had abandoned them for his conquest of power he'd stopped being their father. It was just fortunate that Hafiz paid so little attention to his daughters, angry at the both of them for being born female in the first place, or he would've recognized what the mark on her hip meant. But Malik's mother had hidden the mark, and after she died Isis had taken over in keeping it a closely guarded secret that Hafiz remained unaware of.

And really, that was a future that no one dared to contemplate. Hafiz would've passed her over to Kaiba Corp in a second, especially if he thought that doing so would earn him extra favor with Kaiba Gozaburo. Isis had demonstrated recently that she wasn't the person Malik had thought she was, but at least her sister had never tried to force her to do something against her will. When all was said and done, Malik knew that Isis would've backed off in regards to Central Academy if Malik had really and truly put her foot down. At least like this she still had a little bit of control over her future.

"Malik, stop. Seriously, would you wait for a minute? If he's not given up yet, I doubt another minute is going to make that much of a difference," Ryou said. She sounded strange, her words voiced in between little pauses, and at first Malik thought she was out of breath. But then they moved underneath a light and she realized that Ryou was shivering.

"Come on, running will warm you up," Malik coaxed, not bothering to chastise Ryou for calling her by the wrong name. It was late and there was no one else around, and depending on whether or not Ryou was right about Bakura being trustworthy it might not even matter by now. The thought of Hafiz going back to his office and learning the truth made her cringe. Maybe it was a good thing they were headed to the parking lot, just in case a quick getaway became necessary.

"Yeah right, I've heard that one before." Ryou rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. She reached out and took Malik's hand. "Let's go, but _slower_ this time. The faster we go, the more chance that someone's going to notice us and think we're doing something we're not supposed to be doing."

"I hate it when you make sense," Malik muttered, pouting. Reluctantly she slowed to a fast walk, keeping her eyes locked on the parking lot as it gradually came into view. It was filled with cars, and for a moment she didn't see anyone. Her heart sank. She was praying for answers, but it was possible that Hafiz had managed to keep her from getting them without even knowing it.

But then she spotted the shadow lounging against Yuugi's car, arms folded. Much to her surprise, as they got closer she realized that not only was Mariku still there but Bakura was as well. Yuugi and Jou were standing a short distance away. No one was speaking, but they all turned to look at Ryou and Malik as they approached. Malik said, "Sorry we're late. We got trapped into listening to the headmaster bitch about how much Kaiba Corp needs us."

"Okay, now I'm not so disappointed that we missed dinner," Jou said.

"I thought you might have left," Malik said, directing the comment towards Mariku. He straightened and looked at her with a half-smile.

"No, I knew where you were. I always know," he said calmly. "I was willing to wait for as long as it would take you to come. It was my friends who were beginning to get a little impatient."

"Your -" Malik cut herself off with a strangled sound. Out of the shadows to their left, where they had blended in so perfectly that it had to have been done with magic, came Yami and Seto. Yuugi turned white when she saw them, and Jou winced. Ryou's hand tightened to the point of pain, while Bakura actually looked shocked. Apparently, Malik thought dazedly, it hadn't been Bakura they needed to worry about at all.

"Who invited you?" Bakura demanded, and then he punched Mariku in the shoulder. Hard.

"No need to get violent," Mariku said with a smirk, easily dodging the second punch that Bakura tried to land on him. "Come on, now, we're all in this together. Or at least, we're going to be. I've been told that it's imperative that we meet slowly and come around to this on our own terms, even if it means that we have to stay at Central Academy for the next god knows how many years." He looked around at them all. "So naturally, I thought we should say fuck that and just jump right in."

"Oh my god, he really_ is_ your yami," Ryou said, awed.

"What?" Yami said sharply. "What did you say?"

"You heard him right," Mariku said. "And he wasn't talking about you, either." He finally pushed off of the car and took a couple of steps forward. "I don't know about you all, but I'm not comfortable with talking about this where anyone could hear us. I think we should find somewhere a little more private." He dangled a set of familiar car keys.

"Hey, where did you get those?" Yuugi squeaked. She still looked pale, but now she started forward like she was intending to take her keys back. Mariku pulled them out of her reach easily.

"Ah ah ah," he said. "Sorry, I don't have a car yet so I'll need to borrow these. You're the only one with reliable transportation, since the cars belonging to those two have been bugged with trackers." He nodded towards Seto and Yami. He held up a finger to forestall any questions and added, "If you come with me, I'll answer any question that you can think of and more. I won't force you to come, but I can tell you that you'll feel a lot more enlightened if you do."

Malik stared at him for about three seconds before she made her decision. Really, there was nothing to decide. Everything inside of her said that she could trust this boy, this man who was her partner in every way possible even though they didn't technically know each other. More than that, though, she craved answers and if he was willing to give them to her than she was willing to take that risk. She took a step forward and glanced at Ryou, Yuugi and Jou in turn. It didn't happen often but sometimes Malik swore that she and her friends could communicate with just a look because they all nodded, if somewhat reluctantly.

"Alright," Malik said finally. "We'll come with you, but I get to drive." She held out a hand.

"Deal," Mariku said, tossing the keys at her. She caught them easily and turned towards the car. She didn't know if Yami, Seto or Bakura would decide to come. Frankly she didn't really care. But she couldn't help watching out of the corner of her eye to see what would happen.

"Yami?" Yuugi said softly, questioningly, gazing up at her other half.

Yami stared at her. "What is going on? When we got back to the dorm there was a note that said for us to come out here so that we could learn about -" He cut himself off sharply and glanced over at Seto before he continued. "And now you're talking about... things... and I just... who _are_ you?"

Yuugi licked her lips. She looked nervous, but that didn't stop her from reaching for the band that covered her wrist. Her fingers trembled as she slowly pulled the band up, just far enough so that Yami would be able to get a good look at what was there. His jaw dropped and he seized her wrist, pulling it right up to his face so that he could get a better look. Yuugi shook her head warningly at Jou and went willingly, allowing Yami to put his fingers on her wrist. Judging by the shudder that went through her, it wasn't exactly a sacrifice.

"My god," Yami said wonderingly, looking at Yuugi like she was the answer to every question he had ever asked. "You're my hikari."

"Who are you?" It was Seto who asked the question this time, and he didn't look like he was going to be as easily derailed as Yami had. "This can't be a coincidence."

"You're right," said Jou. "It's not." There was a definite pallor to her skin, and she gave Seto a wide berth when she stepped around him. "But none of us are telling you here, where anyone could be listening. I, for one, have no interest in getting any more acquainted with Kaiba Corp than I already am. So while I'm not exactly thrilled to be going on a joy ride to god only knows where, it's better than being here." She opened the back door and added, "Frankly, if we decide to never return I'm on board with that."

Seto didn't look convinced, and when Yami actually turned towards the car he shot out a hand to stop him. "You can't be serious. Yami, you don't know any of these people! For all you know, they could be planning to turn us in." He scowled over at Bakura. "The thief certainly seems to be very close to them, so that right there says it all to me. I find it very convenient that you just happened to be here."

"Watch it, priest," Bakura snarled. "For your information, I only came to find out what was going on. If it was important or necessary, I would have told you." He was looking at Yami more than Seto as he spoke. "Out of the three of us, I stand to lose the least. Gozaburo already knows that I'd as soon slit his throat as obey anything he says. If this was a trap and I was found here with these losers, it wouldn't have mattered. But if he caught you here, he'd freak out." He folded his arms and glared at them both.

"Bakura, just when I think I have you figured out..." Yami shook his head slightly and turned to face Seto. His voice was gentle but firm when he said, "Seto, I understand your cause for alarm, but I'm not just doing this on a whim. When I touch him, I can feel my mark responding. It's never done that for anyone else. You know what that means."

"How do you know they're not in league with my step-father?" Seto demanded.

"Yeah right," Yuugi said before she could stop herself, highly insulted at the idea. "Your awful step-father is the reason we're all in this mess in the first place! If it weren't for Kaiba Corp, none of us would even be at this stupid school. The only reason we're here is because -"

Malik cut her off before she could go off on a rant by sliding a hand over Yuugi's mouth. She was a little surprised, actually. It was rare for Yuugi to get that annoyed so quickly. It usually took a lot to push her or Ryou over the edge. "We're not talking about this here," she said firmly. The parking lot was beginning to give her the creeps. There were way too many places for someone to be hiding, particularly if they could use magic. "I'm going. Fuck, I'm driving. I don't care who else comes, but the car is leaving _now_."

She released Yuugi and stormed back over to the car, climbing into the driver's seat. Mariku joined her a moment later in the passenger seat. Seto hesitated for only a moment longer, looking torn, before he let out a disgruntled sigh. "Wait," he said, turning to Bakura. He knelt down on one knee and pulled Bakura's leg forward, exposing the band.

It was the first time Malik had seen the GPS locator, and even with Ryou's description she hadn't imagined that it would be this bad. Her stomach twisted as Seto held a hand out about a foot above the band and closed his eyes. The hair on the back of her neck stood up at the resulting feeling of magic that flooded the area. This was serious stuff, and it made her realize for the first time how powerful Seto really was. Without a mate, he shouldn't have been able to use magic at all. But he was still strong enough to use cloaking magic, something that Isis had once mentioned was difficult for anyone not trained in the art. The priest indeed, she thought, glancing at Mariku. He caught her eye and winked.

"Will it hold?" Bakura asked as the magic died away. "It feels different."

"I'm tired," Seto said shortly, rising swiftly to his feet. "As long as we aren't gone for long, it will be fine."

Bakura eyed him. "You better be right," he said, sliding into the back seat of the car. Seto and Yami joined him, and then there was a slightly awkward moment when everyone realized that the car was not big enough to hold eight people. As it was, the backseat was crowded with Jou, Bakura, Yami and Seto. There just wasn't enough room for anyone else up front, not with the gear shift, and Malik couldn't help glancing in the rearview mirror to watch as Yuugi and Ryou finally - reluctantly - climbed into the car. Ryou sat on Jou's knee, while Yuugi, who was blushing the color of a tomato, perched gingerly on Yami's.

"This is so not safe," Ryou said, bracing her back against the window.

"I'll try not to crash," Malik quipped, unable to keep from grinning when her two friends immediately paled in horror at the reminder that she was the one who was at the wheel. Ryou grabbed onto Jou with a death grip. "Where to?"

"Just drive," Mariku said, smirking.

Malik could handle that. She slid the key into the ignition and turned the car on, thoroughly enjoying the way the engine turned over and roared to life beneath her fingertips. She eased the car out of the parking spot and then floored it, racing down the hill towards the gate. Fortunately it was open, and they didn't have to stop at the creepy guard house. It gave her a lot of pleasure to see that pervert coming running out as they shot by, his hands waving as he shouted uselessly for them to stop. They left him in the dust as Malik pressed the accelerator down, feeling better with every mile that they put between them and Central Academy.

"Alright," Jou said tensely, "we get that you're glad to be leaving. Can you slow down a little?"

"Spoilsport," Malik said, but she eased up a little because they had to be going pretty fast for Jou to be the one complaining. She was amused to note that at least her little taste of speed had caused Yuugi to lighten up a little and lean back against Yami.

"It's all fun and games until we crash," Ryou muttered darkly.

"No backseat driving," Malik added, deciding to ignore her stick-in-the-mud friends. She was really the only one of them who loved speed. Jou was just a bad driver because she didn't pay much attention to what was going on.

"I have a motorcycle," Mariku said casually. Too casually. Malik's heart jumped into her throat and she swallowed. God, it was like he was _perfect_.

"You do?" she said.

"Yeah."

She had to bite her lip against the urge to ask if she could drive it someday. He glanced over at her, as though sensing the weight of her stare, and gave her a crooked smile. She was in trouble, Malik realized, looking back at the road before anyone noticed that she wasn't exactly watching where they were going. Mariku reached over and put a hand on her knee. Brazen, definitely, but the contact only made her shiver and want more. Yup, definitely trouble.

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Please review!


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N:** Enjoy!

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Yami was confused, Yuugi could tell, but that didn't mean she knew how to explain things to make it better. She tried not to fidget on his knee too much, but that was hard. They drove for about two hours before they got to a town. Yuugi didn't recognize the name of it, but she did know it was in the opposite direction of the town where Isis wanted to meet them. She wondered if that meant something, if Mariku knew that no one from the Resistance or Kaiba Corp would be around. She still wasn't sure that he could be trusted, and it bothered her that Yami was probably feeling the exact same way about her.

"Pull over right here," Mariku said, pointing through the windshield at a spot just ahead. Malik did as he requested and they all just sat there for a moment. Then he turned around and looked into the backseat. "Comfortable?"

"Extremely," Jou muttered. She was crushed against the window with Ryou on her knee. Bakura was sitting right next to her, followed by Yami and Yuugi and then Seto. "Next time, we're getting a bigger car."

"It wasn't my choice," Yuugi reminded her. Isis had given them the car, and as far as she knew it was just a loan. Probably Isis had never expected that it would be necessary for more than four people to be in it. She wondered, with a faint smirk, if Isis had been able to foresee this coming.

"Where are we?" Seto asked. Well, it was more like a demand considering that his tone of voice made it abundantly clear that he was not getting out unless he knew where they were. His eyes moved restlessly across the street, though Yuugi wasn't sure what he was looking for. Signs of his father's men, perhaps, and if that was the case she really hoped he didn't find any.

"You'll see." Pushing the door open, Mariku got out. The rest of them exchanged glances before Malik sighed and opened her door up too. That seemed to be the key: Jou and Seto and Ryou all climbed out, and then Yuugi, Yami and Bakura followed. The night air was cool and felt good against Yuugi's skin after sitting in the warmth of the backseat, but it didn't take her long to realize that what really felt nice was the fact that they were away from Central Academy.

The school was not at all like what she'd always thought it would be. She supposed that, in her dreams, she'd been attending the school as just Yuugi. There hadn't been any hikaris or yamis or magic to worry about, and being a boy or a girl hadn't mattered. She just wanted to learn about dueling and partner monsters. Having everything else on her shoulders meant that all of the fun had been sucked out of it. She hated to admit it, but she was dreading the idea of having to go back.

"Are you okay?" Yami asked her quietly.

Yuugi smiled weakly. "I should probably be asking you that," she said, brushing a strand of blond out of her eyes. As far as Yami was concerned, she was a complete stranger. The only reason he'd bothered to come was because of what he felt when the two of them touched: like there was an instant bond there. It was a little bit like coming home.

"I'm fine." Yami saw her skeptical look and shrugged. "No, really. I don't blame you for being doubtful, but it's the truth. I've spent most of my life being left in the dark. Believe me, Kaiba Corp didn't exactly bother to explain what was going on when they first grabbed me."

"What happened? I mean, how did you get caught?" Yuugi asked. She noticed that the rest of their friends were entering the building, but she really wanted to know.

"Honestly? Seto is my cousin. They found me at the orphanage, and I refused to leave without him and Mokuba," Yami replied. "I was too young to know that I should hide the mark, and even if I had it wouldn't have mattered. The examination they perform is pretty thorough. But then, I guess you know that." He looked at her curiously. "How did you and your friends keep it hidden for so long?"

"Um," Yuugi said, trying to think furiously. It was obvious that Yami had no idea she was really a girl, and until Yuugi knew him a little better she wanted to keep it that way. That meant she had to come up with a believable lie, and Yuugi wasn't very good at that sort of thing. Her grandfather always said that she wore her heart on her sleeve and that somehow managed to give her away every time. She cleared her throat. "I just - my grandfather is an archeologist, or he used to be before he opened up his game shop. Whenever it came time for an examination he made sure we were out of the country, that's all. And he paid some people off, I think."

"That was fortunate for you."

"Yeah, I don't know where I would have been if it wasn't for him." Well, of course she did. She thought about what he'd said about her parents and Kaiba Corp and suppressed a shudder. "He always cautioned me about being careful when it came to who saw my mark. From the time when I was just a kid, he always made me wear this." She pointed to the band around her wrist. "After a while, it just became second nature to keep it hidden all the time."

Yami nodded. "I wish I had put more effort into hiding mine," he said regretfully. "Things might be different now if I had."

She'd probably never get a better opening. Shizuka had mentioned that there was something Gozaburo had on Seto and Yami to make them obey his commands. Her curiosity was burning. "Can I ask - why do you stay with him, Yami? I mean, I know that Bakura wears that horrible tracker. But I don't get what keeps you and Seto there. You guys don't wear one of them."

"No, I don't. What Kaiba Corp has on me is something far worse." He studied her for a moment before reaching for his back pocket. He took out his wallet and opened it, removing a folded square of paper. Yuugi took it and examined the photograph carefully. It depicted a much younger Yami and Seto with a little boy she didn't recognize. He had dark hair and grey eyes and he was hugging Seto. Yami was sitting beside them, laughing. There was an air of such joy about the three of them that her breath caught.

"This is... Mokuba?" she asked.

"Yes. As I said, he's Seto's little brother and my younger cousin. Gozaburo took him away shortly after he had us removed from the orphanage. I'm not sure where he's being kept, but Gozaburo never hesitates to use him as leverage if he feels that Seto and I are getting too out of line." Yami took the photo back, handling it as gently as though it was fragile glass. "If anything were to happen to him, I would never forgive myself."

Suddenly the chill of the night air wasn't nearly as enjoyable as it had been. Yuugi swallowed hard against the urge to be sick. She'd heard a lot of things about Kaiba Corp over the years. Horrible, disturbing things about the way that Gozaburo abused his level of power. People disappearing, laws that changed on a whim for the benefit of Kaiba Corp, the blatantly obvious segregation of magic users and non, boys and girls, men and women. But it had never really touched Yuugi, not personally, and so she'd never really given it much cause for thought.

But now she was beginning to understand the true depths of depravity that were so deeply rooted in the world, and she didn't like it. Kaiba Gozaburo was willing to stoop to any level so long as he was the one who profited from it. It didn't matter to him who he had to threaten, the lives he had to destroy. If he got what he wanted, that was the only thing of importance. She lowered her gaze to the photograph Yami still held, studying the carefree expressions.

This was it, she knew. This was the reason why Isis had begged them to come here. It wasn't just about leveling the playing field for men and women, like Yuugi had originally thought, although there was no denying that was a major part of this whole mess. It was about taking down a corrupt and _cruel_ man who probably wouldn't know what the concept of fairness was if it came over and bit him on the ass. Gozaburo had put himself into a position where no one could tell him what was right or wrong. He had what seemed like total control already - and if he got his hands on the Millennium Items and their owners, that control would be absolute and unbreakable.

And make no mistake, Yuugi had no idea if she or Yami or any of their friends was going to be able to make a difference. All they had to go on was some old prophecy, a couple of weird marks, and the fact that Yuugi was the only one who had been able to put the Millennium Puzzle together. But for the first time, she realized that she was actually willing to try. She _wanted_ to do this, and not just because she had the sneaking suspicion that wherever Mokuba was she might find her parents as well. She wanted to stop Gozaburo.

She lifted her head finally and looked up at Yami. If he thought it strange that Yuugi had not responded to him, he didn't show it. He was staring down at the photo in his hands, his fingers digging so deeply into the edges that the delicate paper was crumbling. Gone was the joyful expression he'd worn as a child. Beyond the obvious physical similarities, there was nothing to give her any hint that the kid in the picture was Yami. For the first time she could recognize that Yami looked beaten already. Defeated.

It was enough to make hot anger flare in the pit of her belly. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, and Yami jumped a little at the sound of her voice. Yuugi reached out and covered his hands with hers. The pleasant little buzz, like feathers sweeping across her skin, returned immediately. It only seemed to happen when there was contact between bare flesh, and the longer she held on the more concentrated it became. But after a couple of seconds of a fizzing sensation so strong she couldn't think of anything else, it settled down into a low warmth that made her feel pleasantly comfortable all over.

"You don't have to apologize," Yami said, blinking rapidly. "It's not your fault."

"No, but that doesn't mean I can't be sorry about it. To be honest, I... the only reason I was here is because the Resistance asked me to be. They know about our marks, and they made the assumption that we were the hikaris from the legend. I was supposed to gain your confidence and figure out whether or not you were trustworthy."

Yami's forehead wrinkled. "Trustworthy for what?" he inquired.

"To make sure that you weren't actually working with Kaiba Corp of your own free will, basically, before I showed you this," Yuugi replied. She was loathe to let go of him, but there was something he needed to see. She reached for the cover of her faithful messenger bag and unlatched it. Yami looked curious, and she could see the exact moment when understanding dawned: his jaw dropped and his eyes doubled in size.

"Is that..." he trailed off, too shocked to continue.

"Yes. My grandfather gave it to me and I solved it," Yuugi said simply. "I didn't really think about what that would mean, but it ended up being the catalyst that sort of set everything else into motion." She watched, but didn't protest, as Yami slipped his hand into the bag to touch the puzzle. His fingers made contact, sliding across the gold. She tucked the bag under one arm and, on impulse, reached a hand in too.

The second their fingers made contact on the puzzle, both of them collapsed.

**AU**

Jou had been keeping her distance from Seto. Being in the car with him had bothered her a lot in spite of the fact that there had been three other people in between them. Just the thought that some part of their bare flesh might brush together and make Seto realize what was going on was enough to make her skin crawl. At some point, the truth was going to have to come out and Seto would know the truth. But she was not nearly at the point where she was prepared for that to happen.

She cast another glance at him from the corner of her eye. The building they had walked into appeared to be some sort of warehouse. Huge, blank cardboard boxes were stacked all over the place. She was pretty sure they weren't supposed to be here, considering that Mariku had picked the locks to get in, but he'd walked in as calmly as though he owned the place. And unless they wanted to be left out on the street, the rest of them had no choice but to follow.

Seto was surveying one of the boxes with a thoughtful expression. Suddenly, he turned around and said, "These are Kaiba Corp shipping boxes from twenty years ago."

"Yes, yes they are," Mariku said calmly, leaning back against one of the boxes. "Before you ask, most of them are filled with gaming merchandise, the kind that Kaiba Corp doesn't sell anymore. I believe that used to be one of your divisions, didn't it?"

His question went without an answer, as Seto was already tearing at the top of one of the boxes. Jou couldn't blame him. About six years ago, Kaiba Corp had been one of the top companies when it came to video games - and all of that had been due to Kaiba Seto and his fantastic mind. But then Gozaburo had unexpectedly pulled the plug on that division of the company. Shares in other gaming companies had soared, but the market had never been the same and she knew that many enthusiasts mourned the quality of Kaiba Corp products.

Against her better judgment, too curious to keep herself away, Jou stepped up beside him and leaned over. She was surprised and delighted to find that the old box contained fairly new merchandise. Some of it looked like it hadn't been produced all that long ago. She picked up a handheld console and turned it over. Sure enough, the packaging said that it had been manufactured just two years ago. Part of the mystery clicked into place, and she looked up at Seto in surprise.

"You're still making this stuff?" she asked, wondering when he found the time.

"I wasn't going to stop just because Gozaburo thought that I should," Seto said stiffly, barely sparing a glance at the item she was holding.

Well shit. Jou kept staring at him, realizing that this basically proved that Seto was at least a little bit trustworthy. Gozaburo had made his opinion about closing that division of Kaiba Corp perfectly clear; if he'd known what his step-son was doing, he would've been furious. Seto was risking a lot. "I've never seen any of this on the market. Where do you sell it?"

Seto stopped digging through the box and turned to look at her. His gaze was unexpectedly piercing. "It gets re-packaged under another company's name so that he can't trace it. I have no idea why it was even packaged under the KC logo in the first place. It'll just need to be re-done."

"So you get no credit for it," Jou muttered. That sounded extremely unfair. Just one more thing that Gozaburo had ruined for everyone. She wanted to ask what company name Seto was using, but she didn't think that she'd get a straight answer judging from how much open suspicion he was looking at her with.

"As cool as this is, would you mind explaining why we're here?" Ryou asked, shooting Jou an apologetic look. "Where is this, anyway?"

"It's one of my storage facilities," said Seto before Mariku could answer. "I don't know the address of every one for safety issues, or I would've recognized it. What I want to know is how _you_ knew about it."

"Would you believe tricks of the trade?" Mariku asked with a mischievous smile. "Besides, I don't want to have to bother explaining this twice. It's boring enough to have go through it the first time. Why don't we wait until everyone has decided to join us before I start?"

"Everyone?" Jou looked around quickly. Ryou was standing next to Bakura, seemingly unwilling to gravitate very far away from him. Malik was poking through another box, but she turned around at Mariku's comment. It wasn't too hard to figure out who was missing, and Jou swore at herself silently for overlooking the fact that Yuugi and Yami had not entered the building.

"They're probably right outside," Malik said, coming to the same conclusion that Jou had. Still, she looked worried as she ran over to the door. Jou started to follow, not thinking that she was still standing right beside Seto. He started to move at exactly the same time and they ended up running into each other. She grabbed for a hold automatically to keep from falling, the package tipping from her hand and falling to the floor, and her fingers latched onto his bare wrist.

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Please review!


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N:** There won't be an update next week, Friday the 6th, because I'm starting a new job and will be too exhausted. Just a heads up!

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Malik wasn't speaking to Mariku, Bakura was staunchly ignoring everyone, Seto and Jou were both being suspiciously silent, and Yuugi and Yami were still unconscious. To say that the overall feeling permeating the room was tension would have been an understatement. Ryou hunched her shoulders and pressed the back of her hand against Yuugi's forehead for the third time, frowning again at the dry heat. She didn't think Yuugi had been sick earlier, but experience had taught her that illness could come on without warning. And there was a good chance that, in this case, the fever was not a normal one: Yami was in the exact same state, because when Ryou brushed her fingers against his arm experimentally he felt every bit as warm as Yuugi.

She sighed to herself and sat back on her heels, gazing at the two of them worriedly. They had both been unconscious on the street when Ryou and the others found them, and there hadn't been any explanation as to what happened. The only clue was the Millennium Puzzle, which had been found between the two of them. Both Yuugi and Yami had been holding onto it, and in the past hour neither one of them had let go. Any efforts to _make_ them let go were unsuccessful, as it turned out that both of them had a pretty strong grip when necessary. Bakura and Mariku had ended up laying the two of them down on the floor, facing each other on their sides, and there they remained.

How exactly this had ended up being so complicated, Ryou had no idea, but she was beginning to wonder if leaving Central Academy had been a bad idea. She tipped her head back at the sound of movement and watched out of the corner of her eye as Jou abruptly stood up and left the room, skirting the distance around Seto like he was going to jump up and bite her. Okay, there was definitely a story there and she was dying to hear what it was. Since it didn't seem like Yuugi or Yami was going to wake up anytime soon, she got up.

"Hey," she said, snapping her fingers in Malik's direction. "You're on active duty."

"Really?" Malik said with a raised eyebrow. "Now?"

"Just do it, Malik." Ryou hooked her thumbs into her waistband and left, confident that Malik would take over making sure that nothing else happened to their friends. It didn't take long to figure out where Jou had gone: there were only two options, up or out, and after finding Yuugi and Yami outside she didn't think Jou would be stupid enough to go out alone. She went up.

Jou was pacing back and forth on the roof, hands linked behind her back. Even before Ryou had the chance to step out onto the roof, she blurted out, "Seto and I touched."

"_What_?" Ryou exclaimed, shocked. Though, in retrospect, maybe she should have been expecting something like that. She'd never seen Jou this upset. It made sense that it would have something to do with Seto.

"It was when you guys were outside. He turned around and I tripped..." Jou audibly ground her teeth together, a bad habit that lingered from when she was a kid.

"And?"

"And nothing."

That... was not right. "Nothing?"

"You heard me. Nothing. Nada. N-O-T-H-I-N-G." Strangely enough, Jou did not look like she was jumping for joy. For someone who had been complaining about being forced to get to know Seto for the past week, she looked pretty upset. If Ryou hadn't known better, she would have said that Jou was about thirty seconds from bursting into tears.

"Are you sure?" she asked gently.

"Yes, I'm fucking sure!" Jou practically yelled. "I touched his wrist, Ryou. My fingers, his wrist. Bare skin. Nothing happened. No tingling, no vision of my partner, _nothing_."

Forget being close to tears. Jou was actually crying. The tear sliding down her cheek caught the moonlight and glittered, might have even been pretty if it wasn't a testament to how miserable she was feeling. It was the first time Ryou had ever seen her friend cry, and it left her completely uncertain. She floundered for a moment, wondering how to handle this. If it was Yuugi, she would've offered a hug. If it was Malik, she'd have just sat down and been there in case Malik decided she was in the mood to accept comfort.

But Jou? Jou was a mystery. She was the type of person who bottled up grief and pain, channeling them both into anger. She had a hot temper and wasn't above reacting with her fists when she thought it was necessary. But in this kind of situation, there was no enemy for her to fight against. Finally, she said quietly, "I'm sorry, Jou. I really thought that Seto was going to be your soul mate."

"So did I," Jou admitted quietly, rubbing a hand over her eyes. "I mean, I know that I made it seem like I wasn't okay with it... but I was just starting to get used to the idea. I don't _understand_. The last time we touched I saw the Red Eyes Black Dragon. I _know_ I did!" More tears spilled down her face. "I was so close and now it's just, it's not working. What if there's something wrong with me?"

"Oh, Jou." Putting aside any doubt that it might have been the wrong move to make, Ryou moved closer enough to pull her friend into a hug. Jou was stiff against her for a few seconds before slowly relaxing, her arms coming up to hold onto Ryou tightly.

"I just wish I knew why I wasn't born with a partner," Jou whispered, and she sounded so upset that Ryou's heart broke.

"I don't know. I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't." Ryou closed her eyes, frustrated. They'd all seen the dragon mark on Jou's inner thigh. There had to be a match for her somewhere out there. "Look, don't give up hope yet, okay? Maybe Seto is your mate and this was, like, a fluke. If you saw the Red Eyes once, maybe you'll be able to see it again. You could try touching him again."

"There's no point, Ryou. It's not Seto." Jou gave a rough, choked laugh that was almost a sob. She was shaking. "I didn't even want it to be him, you know? But if it meant that I'd know, that it would be over with, I..." She trailed off.

"It's okay, I get it," Ryou said, and she did. Growing up in a world where everyone else had a partner monster was really hard. For one thing, it made them stand out. People couldn't help but notice when you didn't have a partner. It was bad enough to be a girl, but then to have no partner on top of it? And then there was always that chance that you would never find your mate. It was the unspoken worry that had plagued Jou for most of her life. Being so close only to have it taken away was cruel.

She lost track of how long she stood there comforting her friend, but she knew that quite a bit of time had passed before Jou's trembling ceased and she took a step backwards. An embarrassed flush covered her face as she wiped at the tears that had stained her cheeks. Ryou dug into her bag and handed her a couple of Kleenex without comment, knowing that to say anything and draw more attention to it would just mortify Jou even more. As Jou wiped her face and blew her nose, Ryou cleared her throat. Maybe this wasn't her place, but she felt like she had to say something that might help at least a little. Walking away and knowing Jou was still hurting just seemed wrong.

"I know that it might not be my place to say so, but I don't think you should give up on finding your soul mate yet. Don't give up on Seto. You touched him once and felt something, even if it was just for a few seconds." She looked up at Jou, willing her to be open to the idea. "That has to mean something. Maybe give it a few days, get to know him better, and then try again. I hate seeing you so unhappy, and Isis was so sure... I wouldn't want your partner to pass you by because of a fluke."

Jou sighed. "I don't think that's what it was, but alright. I guess it can't hurt." She crumpled the Kleenex and shoved them into her pocket. "Thanks. I know you would've rather been downstairs. You didn't have to follow me up here."

"What're friends for?" Ryou asked with a smile and a wink. It made her feel good to know that she'd helped even a little. "I didn't mind at all, but now that you mention it I think I will go back inside to see if there's been any change. Normally I wouldn't be too concerned, but they were both touching the Millennium Puzzle when we found them and that just seems odd to me. I hope they're okay." She paused for a second before adding, "Did you want to come?"

"No, I'll stay up here for a while. I need some time alone to think, and I probably won't get much of that once we go back to that stupid place. Especially not tomorrow." Jou shot her a meaningful look that Ryou understood only too well. Yuugi had mentioned that Isis wanted to see them tomorrow to renew the illusion, and that meant she would probably want a full update.

"Okay. Just be careful." Turning back towards the door, Ryou slipped inside and gently pushed it almost shut behind her. Somehow, she was not surprised in the slightest to see that Bakura was lounging on the stairs: it was like she could tell when he was near. He made no effort to hide the fact that he'd been eavesdropping on them, and she struggled to remember everything that she and Jou had said. For the most part, they'd been speaking in lowered tones. But once or twice she knew Jou had been speaking loudly, almost shouting. How much had he heard?

"So you didn't tell me everything after all," Bakura remarked.

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "Was I supposed to?" she asked, coming to a stop at the top of the stairs. Because Bakura was standing below her, it left her looking directly into his eyes. They were very nice eyes, she couldn't help noticing. "I told you everything that mattered at the time. The rest of it was just... details."

He dropped his gaze, sending a pointed glance towards Ryou's bag. "Really. Just details, hmm? Then I suppose you wouldn't mind if I -"

"Don't!" Ryou squeaked, clasping the bag protectively against her hip. Bakura raised an eyebrow at her and she sighed. She could've just pretended that it was nothing more than a privacy issue. He really had no business poking his way into her private things, after all. But she had the feeling that Bakura would've seen through such a flimsy lie, and that he wouldn't have stopped until he found out what she was hiding.

She closed her eyes and sighed, drawing on the last reserves of her patience. It had been a very long day, and she would have much rather that this could have waited for some other time when she wasn't so tired. At the same time, she didn't feel right in concealing the Millennium Ring from Bakura. Technically it belonged to him just as much as it did her, which meant he had a right to see it if he so desired. With that thought in mind, she reluctantly reached into her bag and pulled the Ring out.

Bakura looked stunned, like he hadn't actually expected her to show it to him - or perhaps, though he'd suspected she had the Ring, he hadn't thought it was true. Ryou studied his expression, noting that he didn't look greedy the way she might expected. All she could see in his eyes was curiosity. She held the Millennium Ring out to him so that he could take it from her. It wasn't until his fingers made contact with the gold that it occurred to her that Yuugi and Yami had been found in much the same way. By then, it was too late.

**AU**

As the minutes ticked by and Jou, Ryou and Bakura failed to come back, Malik finally found herself letting out a frustrated sigh. They had come all this way to find out answers, but it seemed like no one was interested in listening to them except for her! Even Seto wasn't paying much attention, apparently deeply invested in poking through the boxes. He was examining every product he came across thoroughly. And while it was fascinating to see the kinds of things the intelligent man had been designing right behind Gozaburo's back, it was nevertheless irritating to know that their time was beginning to grow short. If they weren't back at Central Academy by morning someone was bound to notice, and they had a two hour drive.

She waited for an hour before she got fed up. "I'm going upstairs to see what's taking them so long," she announced. Seto didn't so much as glance in her direction to acknowledge her comment, but Mariku at least nodded to indicate he'd heard. Huffing, Malik stomped out of the room and swiftly ascended the stairs. She was wondering what could possibly be so fascinating up on the roof when, rounding the fourth corner to mount the last set of stairs, she came across a horrifying sight.

At the top of the stairs, perched perilously close to the edge, was Ryou and Bakura. Ryou was lying on her back and Bakura was sprawled on top of her. Letting out a startled cry, Malik raced up the stairs. It was only when she got closer that she noticed the Millennium Ring. Both of them were holding onto it, and Ryou's bag was open. It didn't take a genius to figure out what must have happened. Malik groaned and slapped a hand to her forehead, realizing that at least they definitely knew what had knocked Yami and Yuugi out. Though why the two of them had chosen to do this on the stairs, Malik had no idea: they were damned lucky that they hadn't fallen in the other direction.

"Malik? What's wrong?" The door to the roof swung open and Jou appeared, summoned by the sound of Malik's shout. When she saw Ryou and Bakura she swore loudly. "Fuck, not again. You guys have got to stop doing this!"

"If you'll notice,_ I_ didn't," Malik said hotly. A commotion below her told her that Mariku and Seto had also heard and were now coming to see what was wrong. Sure enough, the two of them appeared at the bottom of the stairs about thirty seconds later. Mariku's eyes went wide at the sight, while Seto started shaking his head and muttering something about stupid thieves under his breath. Malik just sighed and propped her hands on her hips. "Do you think you can help us get them downstairs?"

"Sure," Mariku said, recovering from his surprise. He easily jogged up to where Malik stood and leaned down to grab Bakura. Reluctantly, Seto climbed up to help him. Between the two of them, they began maneuvering the limp weight back down. That left Malik and Jou to deal with Ryou, but it was a lot more awkward than Malik had been anticipating because both Ryou and Bakura refused to let go of the Millennium Ring. Their fingers were firmly clamped around it, and no amount of prying changed that.

Malik was sweating by the time they'd successfully gotten back into the main room, and she was relieved when she and Jou were able to set Ryou down. She swiped a hand across her forehead and studied her friends, noticing that even though they were unconscious because of gods only know what Yuugi and Ryou looked more peaceful now than they had in weeks. Like they didn't have a care in the world. She had to admit to be feeling a little jealous, considering that she couldn't really remember the last time she'd had a good night's sleep.

"You want to try it?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea." She didn't even have to turn around to know that Mariku was standing right behind her.

"Why not? I know you have the Millennium Rod with you; I can sense its presence."

Her hand went instinctively to her bag as she twisted, searching his face intently. "We have to be back at the school in just a couple of hours."

He shrugged. "We can't go until they wake up, anyway."

He had a point. She glanced at Jou, who had gone back to ignoring Seto. She wasn't sure what had happened there, but maybe a few hours on their own would give them the opportunity to work it out. And she _was_ curious to know why the others had passed out. She opened her bag and recklessly took the Rod out, knowing that if Isis were around this would be exactly the sort of behavior she'd be scolding Malik for indulging in. Her sister had told her numerous times that Malik didn't care enough about safety to be cautious.

Guess Isis knew her better than she had realized, she thought with a smirk. Mariku's eyes were fixated on the gleaming Millennium Rod as she brought it out into the open. She took a deep breath and extended it towards him. To his credit, Mariku didn't hesitate. He reached out and grabbed onto it immediately. The last thing Malik heard was the sound of Jou yelling her name and calling her an idiot.

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Please review!


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N:** Enjoy!

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Yuugi's head ached. It was a deep pain but slow, coming in waves that made the idea of moving seem like an impossibility. Only the sound of a door closing in the far distance was enough to make her stir, her eyes opening just a little bit. Lack of appropriate lighting made it difficult to see where she was, but she could discern enough to tell that she was no longer outside on the street. In fact when she twitched her fingers she felt soft fabric beneath her hands, and more of it was cushioned against her cheek.

"What the...?" She trailed off as she sat up and looked around in confusion. She was sitting on a canopy bed, the white curtains drawn back and tied with deep violet rope. It was exactly the sort of bed that she'd always wanted when she was a little girl, only her parents had refused to buy it, and she'd never had the nerve to ask her grandfather even though he probably would have. Yuugi moved her hand against the pristine white comforter, enjoying the luxurious feel, before she glanced at the room beyond.

The room was fairly large and had plain white walls. The floor, though, was littered with every toy imaginable, including a few that she remembered having as a child but which she hadn't seen in years. She also noticed a closet filled with what appeared to be a ton of clothing, notably a few outfits that she'd always imagined wearing during a duel. When she turned her attention to the nightstand beside the bed, there was a stack of duel monsters cards that looked suspiciously familiar. On impulse she picked up the one on top, half-expecting to see Dark Magician Girl.

It was Kuriboh. Yuugi blinked at the card in surprise and cried out when it evaporated. Smoke wafted up, briefly obscuring her vision. She blinked rapidly, rubbing at her stinging eyes, and sucked in a sharp breath when she saw the figure that had formed not two feet away from her. As the smoke dissipated she realized that she was staring at a big ball of brown fur, marred only by green paws with yellow claws. Big purple eyes stared back at her, and when Kuriboh realized it had her attention it let out a friendly chirp.

"Oh my..." she whispered, stunned. She reached out a cautious hand to touch and jumped when someone knocked on the door. The door? Her head whipped around, searching for the sound of the knock, and spotted the door on the far side of the room. Kuriboh purred loudly as she slipped off of the bed and padded across, putting a hand on the knob. She pulled it open slowly.

Yami was standing on the other side, nearly hidden by the fog and darkness that surrounded him. Yuugi sagged in relief when she saw him, putting one hand over her pounding heart. "Oh thank god it's you," she said, and it was out before she realized how it might sound.

If he noticed, Yami didn't say so. "You're alright," he said, clearly relieved. "I woke up in this huge room and I didn't know what the hell was going on."

"Did you room look like this one?" Yuugi asked.

He peered over her shoulder. "No. Well, sort of. I had some games around mine, too, but not nearly as many. The walls were stone and had some writing on them. Hieroglyphics, I think." His mouth twitched with amusement. "And I'm pretty sure I was missing the canopy bed."

Yuugi blushed. "I didn't design this place," she said defensively, but she stepped back to let him in. It wasn't until he was in the room and looking down at her that it occurred to her that she was no longer wearing the illusion that Spiria and Magician of Fate had cast. The jolt of pure panic that flooded through her was almost worth it just for the expression on Yami's face as he fully registered what he was looking at.

"Y-you... but... w-what?" he sputtered. "You're a... girl."

"Oh god," she muttered, because this was _not_ how she'd wanted this conversation to go. She took a deep breath and met his eyes. "Yes, I am a - Yami, stop that!" He was patting his chest frantically, as though making sure that he was still a guy and thus missing some important female parts. Yuugi bit her lip against the urge to start laughing, if only because this was just pure insanity.

Fortunately, he did stop. He let his hands drop to his sides and said, "What the hell is going on? Last I checked, you were definitely a boy."

"Well, actually that's not quite true," Yuugi admitted nervously, squirming. "I am - and always have been - a girl. I just didn't... tell you about that part."

Yami just stared at her.

"I was going to tell you. Eventually. I mean, after I knew for certain that you could be trusted. I'm not trying to say that I don't trust you, but I just..." She stopped herself mid-ramble and took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. Yami was only looking more confused and she suspected that it was because she wasn't really explaining anything. This was much harder than she thought it would be. Did he have to look so betrayed? "Look, why don't you just come in and sit down and then I'll tell you everything. For real this time."

"Okay." He was cautious as he moved the rest of the way into the room, and Yuugi nearly passed out when she realized that there was someone - or rather, something right behind him. Not two steps behind, walking right into the room like Yuugi had invited it in instead of Yami, was a duel monster. It was wearing dark purple and gold armor and carried a wicked-looking sword and shield. A mane of deep red hair spilled from underneath the helmet. The creature moved with an unconscious grace and ease that made Yuugi instantly jealous even as she lifted a finger and pointed.

"What is that?" she asked.

"The... Black Luster Soldier?" Yami replied, and even though it was clearly meant as an answer he still managed to make it sound like a question. "There were some duel monster cards in my room when I woke up. I felt compelled to pick up the top card, and when I did -"

"It dissolved and left the Black Luster Soldier behind," Yuugi finished. Now that she could put a name to the creature, she recognized him. Her grandfather had shown her the card once or twice when it happened to come into the shop, but he'd always sold it before Yuugi had gotten the chance to get a good look. "Do you know how I know? Because the same thing happened to me, only I ended up with Kuriboh."

It didn't seem very fair that Yami had got Black Luster Soldier and Yuugi got Kuriboh. Looking at the two duel monsters side by side, there was a definite difference in power and strength. She pouted as she followed Yami over to the bed and sat down, leaving just enough space between them that their thighs and shoulders weren't touching. Though admittedly, she didn't even want to leave that much space. It was entirely too tempting to scoot over the last few inches.

"Well?" Yami prompted after a couple of minutes had passed and Yuugi had yet to begin. He turned to gaze at her. "I'm waiting."

Yuugi closed her eyes briefly, sending out a silent prayer to anyone who might've been listening, before she said quietly, "I really am a girl. My name is Mutou Yuugi. Everything else I told you, save for those two details, really was the truth. I really was approached by Malik's sister after I solved the Millennium Puzzle. She insisted that I was the pharaoh's hikari, and if you were... _are_ the pharaoh that means we're partners. I was supposed to try to get close to you to see how much of a hold Gozaburo has on you. The only way to do that was to get into Central Academy, because you're too closely monitored everywhere else. That's why I was posing as a boy."

He digested that information silently. "Who's Malik?"

"Oh, um, the short blond that was driving the car. The tall blond who punched Seto was Jou, and our other friend is Ryou."

Yami's eyes widened. "The girl who punched - that was _you_ at the party?"

Realizing that Yami hadn't put two and two together yet, Yuugi winced and glanced down at her hands. "Yeah, that was me at the party. That's not why we were there, though. Jou just wanted to see what a meeting of the Resistance was like. I'd just solved the Millennium Puzzle, and Malik was teasing me about being the pharaoh's hikari. When we saw you there, she insisted that I go over and try to touch you just to see what would happen." Yuugi made a face, hoping that she wasn't blushing just from the memory. "That was before Malik's sister Isis insisted that we join Central Academy."

"I don't believe this," Yami muttered, dropping his face into his hands. He sat there like that for a couple of minutes while Yuugi fidgeted before he shook his head. "I really don't. I wondered who you were after the way you made my mark burn, but I didn't think I'd ever actually get to see you again. And now I'm finding out that you're apparently my partner. My _hikari_." He spoke the word a little distastefully. Yuugi's heart sank.

"Is that a bad thing?" she asked in a small voice, hoping that he wouldn't say yes.

Yami didn't answer. Not at first. And when he did, he just said, "I don't know."

It wasn't the answer that Yuugi wanted to hear, but she thought she had a pretty good idea of why she'd gotten it and she tried her best not to hold it against him. After all, Yami had gotten even more screwed over by this whole nonsense than she had. He'd spent most of his life under lock and key just because of the Millennium Items. She couldn't really blame him for not being thrilled that another piece of the puzzle, so to speak, had not only snuck up on him, but had also been lying to him.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," she said softly, dropping her gaze, unable to meet his eyes. "I really didn't want to be a part of this in the first place, and I hate the fact that I had to lie to you to do it. Maybe I shouldn't have solved the Millennium Puzzle."

"No," Yami said immediately. "No, solving the Puzzle was your destiny. It was inevitable. If you had tried to fight it, something even worse could have happened. I just..." He trailed off and sighed, scrubbing his fingers through his hair. It made the strands stand up wildly. He stood up suddenly, like he couldn't bear to sit still. "I'm just so damned sick of having everything in my life planned out for me. And I know it's not your fault, that you're just as frustrated as I am, but fuck if that doesn't really make me feel any better."

She looked up at him and didn't know what to say. There was no easy answer, not to something like this, and she watched helplessly as Yami started to pace back and forth. Black Luster Soldier and Kuriboh were both staring at them with bewildered expressions, and she still had no idea what the hell the two of them were doing there: whether she had finally found her partner in a little puff of fur or whether she'd just lost her mind and was dreaming this whole situation.

"I'm glad that you know now. I didn't like keep secrets from you. I think you really are my yami," she said finally sounding almost apologetic, and then she got up and moved behind him. She was too nervous to do this to his face, because if Yami pulled away she knew she wouldn't be able to hide her hurt expression. She told herself that was the reason her heart fluttered when she reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her front against his back.

He froze, no doubt able to feel physical confirmation that she was indeed a female. Yuugi held on stubbornly, breathing shallowly, her body stiff as she wrapped the fingers of her right hand around her left wrist. For a very long minute, she thought for sure that he was going to break out of her grip. She wasn't sure who was more surprised when he abruptly relaxed, leaning back against her and bringing his hands up to cover hers. At the feel of the comforting touch Yuugi melted against him, tucking her face against his shoulder.

**AU**

Anger was a familiar emotion to Jou, but it had been a long time since she'd felt this much blinding rage. She stood over Malik's unconscious body and experienced the deep desire to wrap her hands around her friend's neck and squeeze until Malik had no choice but to open her eyes or die. It took a lot of effort to fight that urge back, and only when she was certain she wouldn't give into it did she lean down and brush the blonde hair out of Malik's tanned face. The expression of peace was identical to that of Ryou and Yuugi, and Jou huffed.

"You bitch," she muttered, poking and prodding until Malik was sprawled in a marginally more comfortable position. She straightened up again, wondering what this meant for Central Academy. They hadn't even been there for a week, but it was beginning to look like they were all going to drop out. At the very least, Jou wasn't going back without her friends.

She turned around, noticing that Seto hadn't reacted to the collapse at all. He was bent over one of the boxes and hadn't even bothered to turn around when Jou yelled. It annoyed her, that he was showing so little regard, even if he wasn't close to either Malik or Mariku, and she stormed over to him. "What's wrong with you? Are you such a jerk that you don't even show any emotion when two people collapse?" she demanded.

"I wouldn't care either way, but considering that the same thing happened twice not an hour ago the surprise tends to wear off," Seto replied coldly. His response served to piss her off even more, and she was gearing up to give him the lecture of a lifetime when she noticed that something was wrong. Seto was leaning heavily against the box, like he was depending on it for support, and his face had gone noticeably grey. As she watched with mounting concern, several beads of sweat formed and rolled down his cheeks.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," came the quick answer – too quick. Jou frowned, casting her mind back and realizing that Seto had struggled a _lot_ with helping to carry Bakura. More so than he should have. She folded her arms. "I don't believe you. Something's wrong and you better tell me what it is, because if you pass out on me Kaiba Seto I'll –" Even as she spoke Seto was slumping to his knees, and maybe that was for the best because she really didn't know what she was going to threaten him with.

Swearing softly, she came forward quickly and crouched down in front of him. He really did not look well. His face was creased and he was breathing in quick, shallow gasps. When she put a tentative hand to his chest, she could feel how fast his heart was racing. It was frightening. "Seto, please tell me what's wrong," she begged, willing him to stop being such a proud asshole.

His eyes opened with clear difficulty and he looked up into her face. "It's… my magic," he said finally. "I've been using it to shield Bakura, but…" He shook his head. "I was already tired and I'm not used to having to shield him for this long. I can feel the spell threatening to collapse, and if that happens Gozaburo will know where we are. He'll know that Bakura has disobeyed." His expression twisted with pain as he doubled over, clutching at his chest with his hands.

"And what happens then?" Jou asked, but she was afraid she knew the answer. Seto's grimace only confirmed her suspicions. She looked over at their friends anxiously, mind racing. Something struck her then and she turned back to Seto, wondering how this hadn't occurred to her before. "Wait, you've been using your magic _all this time_? How is that possible without a mate?"

"I'm stronger than most," Seto snapped. It looked as though the act of talking was costing him more strength than it was worth, and Jou held up a hand to silence him. Unwittingly, there was a spark of hope blooming in her chest. The first time she and Seto had touched, he'd been fresh. Unstrained, even though he'd been hiding Bakura. Not like now. Was there still a chance after all? She didn't know, and she hated herself for hoping that there was.

"You need your partner," she muttered, more to herself than to Seto. His magic was already incredible, not just because of his strength but also because of the competence with which he wielded it; if he found his mate, then he'd be nearly unstoppable and a simple spell would be no difficulty as long as he had that additional energy to draw on. Jou glanced up at him. This was going to be a leap of faith. If she was wrong...

"Oh god," Seto exhaled, lips barely moving as he fought another grimace of pain.

Jou made her decision. "Drop the spell, Seto. Stop protecting Bakura and give me your hands."

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Please review!


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N:** I bet you all thought I'd start somewhere different... Enjoy!

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There was a look of outright disbelief on Seto's face as he stared at her, his hands still cradling against his chest. "Are you insane?" he spat out finally, wincing with the strain of speaking. "If I drop the protective spell around Bakura, Gozaburo will know where we are immediately. He has men stationed all around Japan. Not only would it take him less than fifteen minutes to have someone at our location, he can _kill_ Bakura from a distance. All it would take is a push of a button."

"I know," Jou said as calmly as possible, trying not to let on how hard her heart was pounding. "I also know that you can't keep this up forever. At this rate, you're going to pass out at best. I don't even want to think about the worst case scenario." She leaned forward, putting their faces at an uncomfortably close proximity. It had the effect of forcing Seto to meet her eyes. "Listen to me. When we touched at that party, I felt something. I _saw_ something. You know what that means."

Seto made a sound deep in his throat, but other than he did not respond. Jou took that as confirmation and pressed on. "If we're mates, then I can help you. I'm not tired. You can borrow as much energy as you want. All you have to do is stop stressing yourself to the limit and grab my hands. Then we'll know." Even though there was a part of her that was terrified about what was going to happen, she willed him to say yes. She couldn't see any other way around this. It was worth it to protect their friends.

"And what if we're not?" Seto said hoarsely.

Jou's hands trembled. She hoped he couldn't see. "Trust me," she whispered.

For what felt like an age the two of them just looked at each other. It felt like anything outside of their immediate vicinity faded away. Jou gazed into those deep blue eyes and realized that, while she'd originally thought they were just pale and cold, there were actually several different threads of blue all melding into one spectacular shade that held her captivated. She could see herself reflected in those eyes, and the fear written all over her face, visible for anyone to see, was enough to make her stomach twist.

Then Seto took a deep breath, clearly a struggle for him, and abruptly relaxed. The tension drained rapidly out of his body and he nearly slumped over, only staying upright because of the box behind him. A moment later his hands shot out and he grabbed onto her wrists. Jou just barely stopped herself from recoiling, forcing herself to remain still and not pull away from the touch. It took a few seconds, the longest seconds of her life, before she felt the tell-tale warmth. It began as a nearly imperceptible tingle that quickly spread, running up her arms and making her heart skip a beat.

Seto's forehead creased in concentration and the tingling sensation abruptly reversed. Jou felt a tug deep inside of her and the image of the Red Eyes Black Dragon bloomed in front of her eyes, blinding her to anything else. Shivering, she twisted her hands and gripped his wrist in return. The feel of his warm flesh beneath her fingertips was grounding and she forced herself to relax, letting him take what he needed to build the spell from fresh. Somehow, she knew that's what he was doing: the taste of magic was heavy on her tongue, coloring the air around them.

The Red Eyes Black Dragon stayed this time, allowing her to admire it – him – at will. The creature was truly majestic, with gleaming crimson scales that sparkled even while surrounded by the murky fog of the Shadow Realm. Deep, dark eyes acknowledged Jou's presence with a flicker, and then the monster rose and swiveled to face her. The enormous head leaned down towards her and butted gently against her whole body. Even though she was still in the real world, connected there by Seto, she felt that sensation strongly enough that she swayed with the force of it. The amount of fondness in that simple gesture made her eyes sting with tears.

Gradually the tingling turned into a prickling sensation that was actually a little painful, as though someone was pressing a thousand tiny needles against her skin. She breathed through it as the vision of the Red Eyes Black Dragon faded away and the world came back into focus. Seto was trembling but thankfully still conscious, the strain in his expression having disappeared. He was still holding onto her, only at some point they had shifted to clutching at each other's hands instead. It occurred to her a little slower than it should have that she did not want to let go.

"Alright?" she said breathlessly, forcing the word out, turning her head to look at their friends. None of them had moved, somehow remaining oblivious to what had been going on only steps away.

"Yes." Seto's gaze had become even more intense. He said, "I can feel your strength. Your magic… it's so _raw_, untouched."

"I've never done any magic before," Jou confessed, deliberately leaving out that she'd never thought that she would be able to without her mate so she hadn't bothered to try. Judging by the way Seto narrowed his eyes slightly, he understood anyway.

He uncurled and rose to his feet without letting go of her, a move of inhuman grace she was instantly jealous of. "Come with me?" he half-asked, already pulling her up. Jou got up willingly, steadied by the strength of his grip, and followed him. She knew where he was going before he got there; she was not surprised when Seto released one of her hands (reluctantly, she felt) and knelt to pull up Bakura's pant leg.

He reached out his free hand and wrapped it around the GPS locator, eyes fluttering shut. Again, Jou felt that tug and this time she recognized it as Seto drawing on her magic. A pale blue light flickered around his fingers, spilling out because he was pressing down on the band so hard. Seto's eyebrows drew together in concentration and he ground his teeth together, and it took her a few seconds to understand that he was shoving magic into the GPS. He was trying to overwhelm it with brute strength, she realized, and even with her support trying to shield Bakura and destroy the band was exhausting him. Impulsively she crouched down too and pressed her hand over his, not knowing what she could do but wanting to help.

The band burned beneath their fingers and Seto inhaled sharply, letting go quickly, revealing that the metal had grown so hot that his fingertips had actually sunk in, leaving perfect imprints behind. To all appearances, it now looked like an ordinary bracelet. Jou studied it briefly and then smiled; she knew how to handle this part - and conveniently, Ryou was lying right next to her. It only took a moment to remove a pin from Ryou's pale hair, something she could find through the illusion only because she already knew where it was, and attack the lock. It wasn't her greatest skill, mostly because she hadn't done it for a long time, but she made do. After several minutes the GPS locator clicked under her ministrations and fell to the ground with a dull thud.

"Now what?" she asked, nudging the stupid thing with her shoe. She wouldn't have touched it for a million yen, knowing how dangerous it potentially was. "Will Kaiba know what happened? Did he sense that? He can't hurt Bakura now, can he?"

Seto hesitated for a few seconds before he responded to her questions. "I don't know," he said at last, looking as though it pained him to admit that. "As much as I searched for the specifications of the locator, I never found them. It's possible that computer copies don't exist and it was manufactured on paper to keep me from being able to do the research necessary to take it off sooner. I believe that Bakura is safe now, but I can't say one way or the other whether Gozaburo will know what's happened."

That wasn't what Jou wanted to hear, and she couldn't help letting out a sigh. It occurred to her somewhat belatedly that she and Seto were still holding hands. That connection between them felt so right that it was easy to forget. Blushing, she let go. "Well, I hope that for Bakura's sake he has no idea. Is that it, then? Are you free of Kaiba Corp now?"

The look that Seto shot her made her feel foolish for bothering to ask. "No. Bakura has no family, nothing with which Gozaburo could use to threaten him into complacency. That was why he used the locator in the first place, cutting off the only thing Bakura cared about: freedom." He glanced over at Ryou. "Now, I suppose, that would be different. If Gozaburo got his hands on the hikari of the Millennium Ring -"

"That'll never happen," Jou said immediately, bristling at the very idea. She would go to hell and back before she'd allow that bastard to get his hands on her friends. "What about you and Yami?"

"It's different for us."

"Different how?"

For a moment, she thought he wouldn't answer. It wouldn't have surprised her if he didn't. In spite of the thrumming bond that now existed between them, they were still essentially strangers who didn't possess the best history. She'd punched him in the face the last time they'd met for god's sake! But Jou wanted to know what was keeping a boy like Kaiba Seto under the thumb of his stepfather when he so clearly hated it there. Much as he was also a jerk, Seto was fucking brilliant: he'd been operating right under Gozaburo's nose for years. There had to be something, and it had to be big.

"I have a brother," Seto said after a lengthy pause.

"Oh." Her eyes widened slightly, thoughts immediately going to Shizuka, and it was all too easy to fill in the blanks after that. Jou _adored_ her baby sister. There was nothing that she wouldn't have done for Shizuka. She tried to imagine how she would have reacted if someone had tried to use Shizuka against her to make her obey. It would have galled, but she would have given in. To keep Shizuka safe, Jou would do anything.

She gave Seto a speculative glance because she had never imagined him as a big brother before. But she could see it, sort of, in the way that he so obviously cared for his younger cousin. Just the mention of his brother had clearly unsettled him. Him! Kaiba Seto! The man that was supposed to be impenetrable, unaffected by anything, was noticeably upset at the thought that their actions might have alerted Gozaburo and, in turn, put his brother into danger. The fury that flooded through her was crisp and bright.

"That's _disgusting_," she said finally, the words hot with rage. "Kaiba Gozaburo needs to be pushed out the nearest window immediately."

Seto blinked at her, eyebrows raised, and then he smirked. "I've been saying that for years," he said cautiously. He seemed to be surprised by the vehemence of her reaction. "But I've never dared to do anything against him as long as he has my brother trapped. It was too risky. I know he has plans in place in the event of his death... I need to rescue Mokuba first."

"Then we will," Jou said decisively, hands on her hips. "Do you know where Mokuba is?"

"It's not that easy."

Jou shrugged. "Sure it is. Gozaburo doesn't have anything on Bakura, so that's alright. He doesn't know that me or Yuugi, Ryou and Malik are in Japan, much less that we've already made contact with you _and_ that they have the Millennium Items. The yamis have their hikaris, you've got me... All we have to do is go rescue your brother and then we can do away with Gozaburo. Easy." She snapped her fingers, brimming with satisfaction over not having to go back to Central Academy or, by extension, Isis to have the illusions renewed.

The expression on Seto's face was priceless. He stared at her for several seconds in silence, brow furrowed. Then he said slowly, "I thought the names of your friends were Kin, Akihiko and Hitoshi."

Oh shit. Jou thought back over what she'd just said and felt like kicking herself. Of course Seto would pick up on such an obvious mistake. "Would you believe me when I said that it's a long story that would be better saved for another time, when we don't know if your stepfather is going to come here and kill us?" she asked, realizing that there was no way to get out of this. There was an almost predatory glint in Seto's eyes, and she knew that now that he'd mentioned his brother he was going to press her for answers until he received an explanation that he deemed satisfactory.

"Then you'd better give me the shorter version," he said, confirming her suspicions.

She took a deep breath. "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you. My name is Jou. That's Yuugi, Ryou and Malik." She pointed to each of her friends as she spoke, identifying their silent bodies for Seto. "We really did come to Central Academy looking for their yamis. Malik's sister is a member of the Resistance, I think, or at least she knows some of the people who help to run it. Anyway. Yuugi solved the Millennium Puzzle and Isis decided that meant it was time that they made contacts with their partners. Because Gozaburo had you all on lockdown, we had to infiltrate the Academy to see what you were like. We were just supposed to see if you guys were trustworthy or not. It wasn't supposed to happen this fast." Jou sighed a little. She had a strong suspicion that Isis would not be pleased when she found out that, about a week into their time at Central Academy, their secrets were already spilling out into the open.

"What about you, then? You're not a hikari, considering that you don't have a Millennium Item. Why did you come?"

"I wanted to help my friends, of course," Jou said, because that really had been a huge part of it. Yuugi and Ryou were so quiet and soft-spoken. Neither of them were weak, but they were a natural target for anyone who was seeking a victim. Even Malik was, to some extent, and that would only get worse when they were disguised as boys. After seeing how her friends had been treated when they were young, there was no way that Jou was going to let them go off without some protection. Besides, she felt a little guilty: if she hadn't insisted on going to that meeting, this might never have happened.

"Is that all?"

Under the scrutiny of those blue eyes, Jou bristled. "No. If you must know, Isis told me that there was a chance the priest of the pharaoh was my soul mate. I didn't think it was true, but since I didn't want to leave my friends alone it seemed to make sense to come here and prove her wrong." She folded her arms across her chest and looked away to conceal her racing heart. "Obviously that didn't work out so well."

She wondered even as she spoke whether or not Seto would put two and two together, whether he'd had enough of a vision from their contact at the party to realize that that girl and Jou were one and the same. Seto was extremely intelligent, so she wouldn't have put it past him. And yes, there it was: she could see the exact second when the truth dawned on him. His expression barely changed, but there was something about the way that he shifted his stance that told her he'd figured it out.

"So we'll be able to save your brother," she said quickly, clapping her hands together. "Between the eight of us, we'll figure something out. You must have some idea of where he's being kept -"

"That was you," said Seto, interrupting her rambling. "You were the girl at the Resistance meeting, the one who punched me." His mouth curled as he paused, studying her more closely, and the air shivered with magic. She felt like he could see straight through to her very soul, and it didn't take a genius to guess that he was gazing _through_ the illusion.

"Yeah, that was me," she confirmed. There was no point in denying it, after all. She just hoped that the others wouldn't be too upset that the jig was up. "Central Academy doesn't allow girls in, so Malik's sister got her partner monster to cast an illusion to make us look like boys." She was tense, waiting for the moment when he would say something stupid. She had never taken well to people making remarks about girls, as Seto had already learned, but she wasn't sure how quickly the lesson would stick.

"I'm a little relieved. I was wondering about the fact that my soul mate was apparently a boy," Seto said, and when she looked up she was amazed to see that he was actually smiling. It was slight, but still there, and she couldn't help grinning back at him.

"I assure you that under this illusion I am 100% girl."

His eyes lingered briefly on her chest. "I can see that."

Jou raised a fist. "You get one pass," she warned. "I'm not above punching you again."

He laughed.

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